Why  We  Fought 

Capt.  Thomas  G.  Chamberlain 

With  a Foreword  by 

Hon.  William  Howard  Taft 

Bx*President  of  the  United  States 


PI 


•This  is  the  testimony  oF  ^ ^'itness  who  was 
a soldier  on  the  fighting  /rant,  with  a keen, 
inquiring,  intelligent  mind,  who  speaks 
authority  as  to  wh*^t  our  boys  mtt?nded  m 
this  war,” 

From  Ex- President  Taft* ^ Foreword 


*An  interesting,  brief  and  brilliant  explana- 
tion  of  the  great  question  upon  which  every 
lerican  citizen  should  be  informed.” 

"Horu  Alton  B*  Parker,  formerly  Chief  Justice 
New  York  Court  of  Appeals 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


The  League  to  Enforce  Peace,  130  West  Forty-second 
Street,  New  York  City,  will  send  a copy  of  Why  We 
Fought  to  any  address,  postage  prepaid,  upon  receipt  of 
Twenty-five  cents  to  cover  cost. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


NEW  YORK  • BOSTON  • CHICAGO  • DALLAS 
ATLANTA  • SAN  FRANCISCO 


MACMILLAN  & CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  • BOMBAY  • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 


THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LtDo 

TORONTO 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


BY 

THOMAS  g/cHAMBERLAIN 

CAPT.  U.  S.  ARMY 

A.  B.,  J.  D.,  Sometime  Teaching  Fellow  in 
Political  Science,  University  of  California 


FOREWORD  BY 

HON.  WILLIAM  HOWARD  TAFT 

Ex-President  of  the  United  States 


JI3etD  gotb 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1919 


A.II  rights  reserved 


COPYBISHT,  1919 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.  Published  July,  1919. 


gjo  73,000  AMERICANS,  FRIENDS 
OF  MINE  AND  OF  YOURS, 
WHO  WILLINGLY  GAVE  THEIR 
LIVES  FOR  A BETTER  WORLD, 
THIS  BOOK  IS  RESPECTFULLY 
DEDICATED.  . . •.  . 


you  from  failing  hands  <we  thronx) 
The  Torch:  he  yours  to  hold  it  high!'* 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/whywefoughtOOcham 


FOREWORD 


By  Hon.  William  Howard  Taft 
Ex-President  of  the  United  States 

There  is  no  part  of  our  people  whose 
opinion  on  the  question  of  whether  we 
should  have  a League  of  Nations,  and 
whether  the  pending  peace  treaty  should 
be  ratified,  ought  to  have  more  weight 
with  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  than 
the  four  million  of  boys  who  were  en- 
listed in  the  war  to  defeat  Germany. 
They  know  why  they  offered  themselves. 
They  know  what  the  national  purpose  was. 
They  know  what  their  fighting  was  in- 
tended to  mean  for  America  and  the 
world.  Still  more  significant  is  the 
opinion  of  the  eight  hundred  thousand  of 
those  four  millions  who  were  given  the 
place  of  honor  in  the  trenches  and  who 
did  the  actual  fighting.  The  most  sig- 

vii 


FOREWORD 


viii 

nificant  of  all  is  the  view  of  the  seventy 
thousand  American  boys  who  offered  up 
their  lives  in  the  cause,  and  whose  great 
purpose  in  making  the  ultimate  sacrifice 
undoubtedly  was  to  end  all  wars  for  the 
world. 

The  following  pages  are  the  testimony 
of  a witness  who  was  a soldier  on  the 
fighting  front,  with  a keen,  inquiring,  in- 
telligent mind,  who  speaks  with  authority 
as  to  what  our  boys  intended  in  this  war. 

I first  heard  and  met  Captain  Thomas 
G.  Chamberlain,  the  author  of  what  fol- 
lows, on  the  stage  of  the  Municipal 
Auditorium  in  San  Francisco.  He  is  a 
graduate  of  the  University  of  California 
where  he  was  a student  of  political  science, 
and  a fellow  of  his  university.  His  train- 
ing and  study  fitted  him  and  induced  him 
to  make  the  inquiries  as  to  the  psychology 
of  the  American  boy  soldier,  and  his 
varied  experience  at  the  front  gave  him 
the  opportunity.  As  soon  as  we  heard  his 
first  address  in  San  Francisco,  we  were 
convinced  that  we  should  have  his  assist 
ance  on  the  missionary  tours  of  the  League 


FOREWORD 


IX 


to  Enforce  Peace  in  behalf  of  the  Cov- 
enant for  the  League  of  Nations.  We, 
therefore,  invited  him  to  become  a 
colleague  on  these  trips.  He  has  been 
most  active  and  effective  in  support  of  the 
League  ever  since. 

Captain  Chamberlain  is  a young  man  of 
thorough  training,  of  high  intelligence,  of 
fine  character,  a sincere  patriot,  whose  lips 
have  been  touched  with  the  gift  of  elo- 
quence. 

I commend  the  reading  of  this  little 
book  of  his. 

Wm.  H.  Taft. 

June  8th,  1919, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Foreword vii 

Hon.  William  Howard  Taft,  ex-President  of 
the  United  States. 

Letter  to  Senator  Borah xi 

Machinery  of  the  League i 

Peaceful  Settlement  of  International  Dis- 
putes   5 

Enforcement  of  Covenants ii 

Armament 15 

Secret  Treaties 17 

The  Colonies 19 

Speeches 23 

Speech  Delivered  at  San  Francisco,  Calif.  . 23 

Speech  Delivered  at  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah  . 29 

Speech  Delivered  at  St.  Louis,  Mo 39 

Speech  Delivered  at  Atlanta,  Ga 48 

Speech  Delivered  at  Portland,  Me 57 

Covenant  of  the  League  of  Nations  . . . .65 

Annex 87 

The  University  and  World  Organization  . . 89 

Letter  from  a Wounded  Soldier 92 


From  the  editorial  page  of  the  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  April  19,  1919. 

SOLDIERS  AND  SENATORS 

This  letter  speaks  for  itself  and,  we  believe, 
for  a majority  of  the  men  who  fought  the  war: 

March  13,  1919 
Hon.  William  Edgar  Borah, 

Senate  Chamber,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I attended  the  meeting  at  Boston 
which  you  recently  addressed  in  opposition  to 
the  League  of  Nations.  The  full  case  was  not 
presented  at  that  meeting.  Sailors  and  soldiers 
who  attempted  to  speak  were  denied  the  op- 
portunity. 

A mere  soldier,  one  among  four  millions,  could 
not  challenge  a United  States  Senator;  but  as 
one  so  fortunate  as  to  have  been  on  the  firing 
line  when  it  was  a question  of  the  life  or  death 
of  our  nation,  I ask  permission  to  present  at  your 
meetings  the  case  for  the  men  who  were  willing 
to  make  and  who  did  make  the  supreme  sacri- 
fice for  a better  world. 

The  American  soldier  fought  with  no  selfish 
or  sordid  aim.  He  believed  that  something 
mightily  worth  while  would  follow  his  sacrifice. 
He  believed  an  organization  would  follow  which 
would  make  peace  more  secure.  He  knew  little 


SOLDIERS  AND  SENATORS 


of  the  details  of  a League  of  Nations;  but  from 
his  everyday  life  he  could  see  the  necessity  of 
organization.  He  now  believes  that  it  is  the 
business  of  a constructive  statesman  to  say  what 
that  organization  should  be,  and  not  merely  to 
oppose  the  one  suggested. 

We  have  been  too  busy  on  the  other  side  to 
know  what  has  been  going  on  politically  at  home. 
Possibly  an  appeal  for  party  support  was  made 
where  it  should  not  have  been  made.  Possibly 
the  Senate  was  not  given  full  consideration.  We 
do  not  know.  But  we  do  know  that  American 
soldiers  have  been  dying  for  certain  principles, 
and  that  these  principles  are  too  great  to  be  dis- 
credited for  the  purpose  of  discrediting  the  man 
who  happens  to  uphold  them;  too  great  to  be 
discredited  for  the  purpose  of  discrediting  any 
party. 

Of  course  this  letter  is  public. 

Respectfully  yours, 

(Signed)  Thomas  G.  Chamberlain, 

Captain^  U.  S.  Army.  | 

Address : 

Hotel  McAlpin,  New  York  City. 

Note:  This  letter  was  also  printed  in  the 
Independent  and  in  many  leading  newspapers,  in- 
cluding the  New  York  Times,  New  York  World, 
Springfield  Republican,  and  Boston  Globe.  Ex- 
pressions of  hearty  approval  have  come  to  the 
writer  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 


WILL  THE  SENATE  LOSE  WHAT 
THE  SOLDIER  WON? 


Peace  follows  justice. 

Justice  follows  law. 

Law  follows  political  organization. 


MACHINERY  OF  THE  LEAGUE 


The  representatives  of  the  United 
States  at  the  Peace  Conference,  together 
with  the  representatives  of  thirty-one  other 
powers,  have  unanimously  recommended  a 
Covenant  for  a League  of  Nations  estab- 
lishing a democratic  international  organi- 
zation for  the  purpose  of  cooperation  and 
the  prevention  of  war.  The  Covenant  has 
already  received  the  criticism  of  the 
United  States,  and  based  on  this  criti- 
cism amendments  have  been  made  ex- 
pressly safeguarding  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine, removing  immigration  and  domes- 
tic questions  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
League,  requiring  a unanimous  vote  in 
matters  of  vital  interest  and  providing 
for  withdrawal. 

It  is  believed  that  the  Covenant  in  its 
present  form  embodies  the  great  principles 
for  which  the  war  was  fought  and  that  it 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


'2 

will  establish  a rule  of  right  in  the  world. 
In  view  of  the  importance  of  the  subject 
and  the  im.pending  action  by  the  United 
States  Senate,  it  is  sincerely  hoped  that  the 
American  people  will  insist  on  a fair  and 
impartial  consideration,  unaffected  by  per- 
sonal or  political  motives. 

The  League  is  not  a world-state  or 
a super-sovereign.  The  obligations  as- 
sumed are  contractual,  and  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  these  certain  machinery  is  pro- 
vided. First,  an  Assembly,  in  which  all 
States  members  of  the  League  are  to  have 
three  representatives,  and  one  vote.  Sec- 
ondly, a Council  of  nine  members,  on  which 
five  States, — the  United  States,  Great 
Britain,  France,  Italy  and  Japan, — are  al- 
ways to  be  represented,  the  four  other 
States  to  be  named  by  the  Assembly. 
(Pending  the  naming  of  these  States,  the 
Peace  Conference  has  agreed  that  Bel- 
gium, Brazil,  Greece  and  Spain  will  be 
the  States  represented  on  the  Council.) 
Thirdly,  a Siecretariat,  made  up  of  a gen- 
eral secretary  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Council,  subject  to  ratification  by  the  As- 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


3 


sembly,  and  his  assistants,  to  be  appointed 
by  him,  subject  to  ratification  by  the  Coun- 
cil. 

The  States  victorious  in  the  war  are  to 
be  charter  members,  together  with  such 
other  States  as  may  be  invited  and  shall 
accept  the  invitation  to  join.  It  is  not 
proposed  to  make  the  Central  Powers 
members  of  the  League  at  once.  There 
will  be  time  enough  for  their  admission, 
as  Mr.  Taft  so  aptly  says,  when  they 
bring  forth  fruit  meet  for  repentance. 
But,  eventually,  of  course,  if  the  old  bal- 
ance of  power  is  to  be  prevented,  all 
States  must  become  members.  The  ad- 
vantages of  membership  are  such  that 
States  will  wish  to  join,  and  admission 
may  be  had  by  a two-thirds  vote  of  the 
Assembly.  A State  may  withdraw  on 
two  years’  notice,  provided  its  inter- 
national obligations  are  fulfilled  at  the 
time  of  withdrawal. 

The  Council  is  to  submit  plans  for  a 
court  of  international  justice  for  con- 
sideration and  adoption  by  the  Council. 
In  addition,  there  will  be  a Commission 


4 WHY  WE  FOUGHT 

on  Armament  and  a Commission  on 
Colonies.  It  is  agreed  that  international 
bureaus  and  commissions  hereafter  con- 
stituted shall  be  placed  under  the  League, 
and  such  as  are  already  established  by 
general  treaties  shall  come  under  the 
League  if  the  parties  to  such  treaties  con- 
sent. 


PEACEFUL  SETTLEMENT  OF 
INTERNATIONAL  DISPUTES 


The  fundamental  covenant  made  by 
members  of  the  League  is  to  permit  delay 
for  arbitration  or  inquiry  prior  to  the 
outbreak  of  hostilities.  To  understand 
how  this  delay  is  to  be  introduced  in  every 
case  is  to  understand  the  heart  and  crux 
of  the  Covenant. 

The  importance  of  such  delay  is  illus- 
trated by  the  experience  of  the  Irishman 
who  found  that  the  resolution  to  count 
ten  before  striking  the  first  blow  kept 
him  out  of  trouble.  Possibly  it  can’t  be 
said  that  the  ordinary  Irishman  would 
keep  this  resolution,  but  if  he  kept  the 
resolution  he  would  keep  out  of  trouble. 
The  practice  between  nations  at  present, 
as  between  certain  select  individuals  of 
pugilistic  lore,  is  to  strike  the  blow  and 
count  ten  afterward.  It  doesn’t  take  an 
5 


6 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


expert  in  the  psychology  of  violence  or  a 
veteran  of  the  great  war  to  point  out  the 
importance  of  delay.  Those  who  have 
had  only  domestic  encounters  know  how 
important  it  is  — in  preventing  the  out- 
break of  hostilities. 

And  delay  has  the  same  pacific  tendency 
in  international  relations  that  it  has  in 
personal  relations.  In  1906  a serious 
situation  arose  in  Morocco  from  the 
Kaiser’s  declaration  of  policy.  A battle- 
ship landed  off  the  coast  of  Agadir  and 
war  seemed  imminent.  Through  the  in- 
fluence of  Mr.  Roosevelt,  who  was  then 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  Algc- 
ciras  Conference  was  called.  The  ma- 
chinery was  set  up  after  the  dispute  had 
arisen,  after  tempers  had  become  quick- 
ened, after  peoples  had  become  angered, 
after  statesmen  had  become  embittered; 
afterward  and  not  before,  as  would  be 
the  case  under  the  League.  As  a result 
of  the  Algcciras  Conference,  delay  was 
introduced;  the  whole  subject  was  dis- 
cussed; public  opinion  was  focussed  upon 
th«  issues;  French  claims  were  established 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


7 

in  Morocco;  the  Kaiser  had  to  back  down, 
and  war  was  averted. 

Again,  in  1912,  a serious  situation  in 
the  Balkans  led  the  great  nations  to  the 
brink  of  war.  Once  more,  fortunately, 
they  were  successful  in  setting  up  ma- 
chinery. The  Conference  of  London  was 
called.  Discussion  was  had.  The  force 
of  public  opinion  was  felt  and  war  was 
prevented. 

We  now  recall  those  dark  days  during 
the  latter  part  of  July,  1914,  and  remem- 
ber the  cry  that  went  up  from  every  for- 
eign minister  of  Europ-e;  the  cry  that  went 
up  from  the  people  of  the  entire  civilized 
world.  They  were  asking  for  delay,  for 
conference,  for  discussion.  But  the 
Kaiser  answered,  “ There  can  be  no 
delay!  ” And  why  no  delay?  Because 
he  knew,  as  we  must  know,  that  delay  is 
fatal  to  the  cause  of  the  aggressor. 

If  the  Covenant  of  Paris  contained  one 
provision,  and  one  provision  alone,  and 
that  a provision  introducing  the  element 
of  delay  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  hostil- 
ities, It  would  r^ resent  a gref**-  step  in 


8 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


advance;  it  would  be  worthy  of  accept- 
ance by  the  American  people;  worthy  of 
adoption  by  the  United  States  Senate. 

When  the  ordinary  processes  of  diplo- 
macy fail  to-day,  the  next  step  is  war. 
Under  the  League  of  Nations,  the  next 
step  after  diplomacy  fails  will  be  arbi- 
tration or  inquiry.  The  machinery  will 
be  in  existence  by  which  such  arbitration 
or  inquiry  can  be  had.  Under  the  cove- 
nants of  the  League  the  necessary  delay 
will  be  enforced. 

It  should  be  understood  just  how  this 
element  of  delay  is  going  to  be  introduced 
in  every  case  after  diplomacy  fails.  The 
nations  agree,  when  a dispute  arises,  to 
go  either  to  arbitration  or  to  inquiry.  If 
they  agree  to  arbitration,  they  agree  ‘to 
abide  by  the  finding  of  the  arbitrators. 
There  can  be  no  hostility  during  a reason- 
able time  allowed  for  arbitration,  and  not 
until  three  months  after  the  finding,  and 
not  even  then  as  against  a nation  that  ful- 
fils the  award.  The  reasonable  time  al- 
lowed for  arbitration,  plus  the  three 
months,  gives  time  for  conference  and  dis- 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


9 

cussion  and  the  operation  of  public 
opinion. 

If  the  nations  do  not  agree  to  arbitra- 
tion, the  case  goes  to  inquiry,  ordinarily 
before  the  Council.  In  order  that  the  re- 
port here  given  should  be  effective,  it  is 
necessary  that  it  should  be  unanimously 
agreed  to  by  all  members  of  the  Council, 
parties  to  the  dispute  of  course  excepted. 
There  can  be  no  hostility  during  six 
months  allowed  for  the  report  and  not 
until  three  months  thereafter,  and  not  even 
then  as  against  a nation  that  complies  with 
the  report.  Of  course  if  the  required 
unanimity  is  not  had  in  the  Council,  the 
parties  are  free  to  take  such  action  as 
may  be  necessary  for  the  protection  of 
their  rights,  but  whether  the  required 
unanimity  is  had  or  not,  there  has  been  a 
delay  of  many  months  during  which  the 
forces  of  public  opinion  can  operate. 

The  Council  may  transfer  the  inquiry 
to  the  Assembly,  and  it  may  be  so  trans- 
ferred by  either  party  to  the  dispute 
merely  by  giving  notice  within  fourteen 
days  after  the  dispute  has  been  filed.  For 


lO 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


the  report  of  the  Assembly  to  be  effective, 
it  is  necessary  that  such  report  should  be 
unanimously  agreed  to  by  all  States, 
members  of  the  Council,  and  a majority 
of  all  the  others,  except,  of  course,  that  a 
party  to  the  dispute  cannot  act  as  judge 
in  its  own  case.  There  is  no  more  assur- 
ance that  agreement  can  be  reached  in 
the  Assembly  than  in  the  Council,  but,  in 
any  event,  the  important  clement  of  delay 
is  introduced  and  by  delay  many  wars  can 
be  prevented. 


ENFORCEMENT  OF  COVENANTS 


The  members  of  the  League  are  na- 
tions that  regard  treaties  of  peace  not  as 
scraps  of  paper  but  as  solemn  obliga- 
tions. If,  however,  any  nation  should 
undertake  hostility  in  violation  of  the 
Covenant  to  allow  arbitration  or  inquiry 
first,  then  such  nation  is  to  be  immedi- 
diately  boycotted  by  all  the  others.  This 
means  that  all  relations  — financial,  com- 
mercial, personal  — are  to  be  severed  with 
the  offending  nation.  This  represents  a 
very  grave  penalty  indeed. 

There  was  a time  when  nations  could 
stand  alone  and  by  themselves,  but  to- 
day, with  the  progress  of  civilization,  the 
development  of  mechanical  methods,  and 
especially  the  improvement  in  means  of 
transportation,  no  nation  can  provide  for 
its  citizens  a satisfactory  state  of  welfare 
without  the  most  extensive  international 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


I 2 

relations.  These  international  relanons 
are  not  theories,  they  are  facts.  The 
disputes  arising  out  of  them  are  not  the- 
ories, they  are  facts.  The  machinery  for 
dealing  with  these  disputes  when  they 
arise,  and  for  settling  them  more  eco- 
nomically and  more  justly  than  they 
could  be  settled  through  war,  is  to-day  a 
theory,  and  it  remains  for  enlightened 
American  opinion  to  translate  this  theory 
into  a fact. 

Through  the  arteries  of  trade  the  life 
of  nations  is  linked  up.  The  vitality  of 
nations  is  such  a common  thing  that  no 
nation  can  enjoy  a state  of  peace  while 
other  great  nations  are  at  war.  How 
well  do  we  know  this  from  our  experience 
prior  to  our  entry  into  the  Great  War. 
To-day  no  nation  can  claim  neutrality  as 
a right  any  more  than  the  citizen  at  com- 
mon law  could  claim  to  stand  aside  as  a 
right  while  the  criminal  was  b^ing  pur- 
sued. The  peace  of  the  world  is  the  busi- 
ness of  the  world,  and  in  that  business  the 
United  States  must  share  her  part  of  the 
responsibility. 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


13 


It  is  now  admitted  that  had  Germany 
at  one  time  made  her  blockade  against 
England  effective  for  two  weeks,  she  could 
have  starved  out  that  country.  This  in- 
ternational dependence  is  a fact. 

When  we  are  told  that  the  United 
States  is  going  to  be  drawn  into  small 
wars  all  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  the 
simple  answer  is  that  the  blockade  is  cer- 
tainly going  to  prove  effective  in  the  case 
of  the  small  nation,  if  not  in  the  case  of  the 
great  and  powerful,  like  the  United 
States. 

If,  however,  the  blockade  should  not 
prove  effective,  then  the  Council  is  to 
recommend  what  military  force  is  to  be 
supplied  by  each  of  the  several  powers. 
It  is  not  contemplated  that  the  benefit  of 
this  League  will  come  in  ordinary  course 
through  the  use  of  this  military  power. 
This  is  not  a league  for  war;  it  is  a 
league  for  peace.  The  organization  of 
the  military  power  of  the  world  will  be 
sufficient  as  a potential  force  to  secure  the 
enforcement  of  the  covenants.  What 
nation  would  care  to  undertake  the  hos- 


14 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


tility  of  this  organized  body?  — to  such  an 
issue  there  could  be  but  one  outcome. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  never  cost 
us  a single  shot  nor  has  it  cost  us  the  life 
of  a single  soldier,  and  yet  that  guiding, 
all-powerful,  parental  hand  of  the  United 
States,  guarding  the  destinies  of  the 
peoples  of  South  America,  has  been  suf- 
ficient to  prevent  aggression,  to  guarantee 
the  territorial  integrity  and  political  in- 
dependence of  those  peoples,  not  through 
its  use,  but  through  the  threat  and  warning 
of  potential  force. 


ARMAMENT 


The  evils  of  competitive  armament  are 
well  known.  If,  in  addition  to  the  great 
burden  brought  upon  the  people  of  the 
belligerent  countries  by  this  war,  we  are 
to  add  the  burden  of  greater  and  greater 
armies  and  navies,  the  outlook  is  cer- 
tainly not  encouraging. 

In  India,  a country  having  great  need 
for  education,  even  before  this  war  there 
was  spent  each  year  twenty  times  as  much 
on  armament  as  on  education.  This  same 
lack  of  educational  facilities,  while  great 
sums  are  being  spent  on  armament,  is  true 
in  all  countries  of  the  world  to  a greater 
or  a smaller  extent. 

We  must  do  something  to  relieve  this 
great  burden.  Under  the  League  it  is 
provided,  not  that  the  regulation  of  our 
army  and  navy  is  to  be  turned  over  to 
foreign  powers,  as  our  opponents  tell  us, 
15 


1 6 WHY  WE  FOUGHT 

but  that  the  Council  is  to  recommend  a 
general  reduction  of  armament  for  each 
of  the  several  powers.  The  recommen- 
dation miust  be  unanimous,  which  means 
that  the  representative  of  the  United 
States  must  vote  for  it,  and  in  the  second 
place  the  Council  can  only  make  a recom- 
mendation, and  final  action  is  reserved  to 
our  own  Congress.  Does  this  seem  like 
leaving  the  determination  of  our  arma- 
ment to  foreign  powers  ? 

The  peoples  of  the  world  are  burdened 
with  competitive  armament,  and  under  the 
League  we  are  going  to  lighten  that  bur- 
den. It  is  easy  enough  to  condemn  and 
to  say  that  the  League  is  all  wrong,  but 
w’hat  do  the  opponents  of  the  League  pro- 
pose for  the  reduction  of  armament? 


SECRET  TREATIES 


As  President  Wilson  said  in  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  House  in  New  York  City, 
“ If  the  League  of  Nations  were  nothing 
but  a great  debating  society,  it  would 
kill  intrigue.”  These  secret,  underhanded 
treaties,  by  which  whole  nations  are 
plunged  into  war  without  even  knowing  the 
reason  for  it,  must  be  eliminated.  The 
League  of  Nations  sounds  the  death  knell 
of  secret  treaties  and  secret  diplomacy. 

From  the  very  fact  that  we  have  had  in 
Paris  a meeting  together  of  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  nations,  several  . secret 
treaties  have  been  brought  to  light.  We 
are  now  discussing  treaties  that  we  did 
not  know  anything  about  a few  months 
ago.  These  treaties  are  outlawed  under 
the  League.  No  treaty  is  to  be  binding 
until  it  is  filed  with  the  general  secretary 
and  made  public. 


17 


1 8 WHY  WE  FOUGHT 

A treaty  is  a contract,  and  the  essence 
of  any  contract  is  the  consideration,  the 
obligation.  Should  such  treaties  be  made 
in  violation  of  the  Covenant,  it  would  only 
be  necessary  to  appeal  to  the  League  for 
relief  from  the  fulfilment  of  the  obliga- 
tion. Ask  the  opponent  of  the  League  of 
Nations  how  he  proposes  to  eliminate 
secret  treaties  without  some  such  coopera- 
tion among  the  nations  as  is  here  proposed. 


THE  COLONIES 


What  are  we  going  to  do  with  the  Ger- 
man colonies?  This  was  a question  that 
the  Peace  Conference  had  to  answer. 
Germany  had  maltreated  the  peoples  of 
those  colonies;  she  had  abused  them.  We 
could  not  return  the  colonies  to  Germany. 
What  would  the  opponents  of  the  League 
have  done  with  them?  Would  they  have 
turned  them  loose,  as  the  prey  of  any 
power  that  might  care  to  grab  them? 

Under  the  League,  this  fundamental 
principle  was  laid  down,  and  even  the  op- 
ponents of  the  League  must  admit  that  this 
principle  is  sound:  backward  peoples  con- 
stitute a sacred  trust  of  civilization. 

We  did  not  stop  with  the  declaration  of 
this  principle  but  provided  the  machinery 
by  which  it  could  be  carried  out.  The 
Powers  best  suited  to  undertake  the  man- 
date for  backward  peoples  were  appointed 
19 


20 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


by  the  League,  and  every  year  the  Powers 
so  undertaking  these  mandates  must  report 
to  the  League  upon  the  execution  of  the 
trust, — sacred  trust  that  we  have  declared 
it  to  be. 

This  constitutes  an  effective  settlement 
of  the  colonial  problem,  and  there  has  been 
no  other  effective  settlement  proposed. 


Ye  shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free 


Where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people 
perish 


Speech  Delivered  By 
Captain  Thomas  G.  Chamberlain 

Before  the  Pacific  Coast  Congress  for  a 
League  of  Nations,  San  Francisco, 
California,  February  ig,  igig. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men: The  invitation  to  speak  here  this 
evening  vath  such  distinguished  persons 
came  as  a surprise  to  me,  and  it  was  with 
apprehension  that  I accepted.  But  I am 
glad  of  the  opportunity,  glad  because  I 
feel  that  I have  something  to  say  to  you, 
something  that  the  soldiers  would  wish  me 
to  say  to  you;  the  soldiers,  not  only  those 
who  have  served  here  at  home,  not  only 
those  of  us  who  are  just  returning  from 
overseas,  not  only  those  who  are  yet  to  be 
returned,  but  also  those  who  shall  never 
return. 


23 


-4 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


I have  talked  with  the  soldiers  in  the 
camps  in  this  country,  on  the  high  seas, 
in  .the  hospitals  of  France,  and  in  the 
trenches.  I know  what  the  soldier  felt. 
Many  of  our  conversations  I might  tell 
you  of,  but  I shall  refer  to  only  one;  only 
one,  because  it  is  typical  of  them  all.  It 
was  a gloomy  night  on  the  western  front 
behind  the  lines  at  Chateau  Thierry.  I 
was  talking  with  a soldier  — a doughboy. 
The  military  situation  was  critical,  and  we 
knew  it.  The  Italians  had  met  with 
serious  reverses.  The  French,  after  a 
stubborn  fight,  had  lost  Chemin-des-Dames, 
perhaps  the  strongest  position  on  our  line. 
The  Germans  had  attacked  in  Flanders, 
where  the  British  and  Portuguese  armies 
came  together,  and  had  opened  a gap. 
The  British  Fifth  Army  had  been  turned 
back  into  Picardy.  The  situation  was 
critical.  As  we  talked  we  could  hear  the 
roar  of  the  artillery  far  up  and  far  down 
the  line,  and  before  us  the  star  shells 
lighted  the  sky.  He  told  mie  of  his  ex- 
periences in  going  over  the  top;  he  told 
rne  of  his  exploits  in  No  Man’s  Land. 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


25 


He  told  me  that  he  was  going  over  again 
in  the  morning,  and  when  he  left,  he  said  ^ 
— and  I shall  never  forget  his  words,  ' 
“ We  have  a big  job  to  do,  but  we  are 
going  to  finish  it  and  finish  it  forever, 
and,”  he  added,  “ if  I can  help  finish  it,  I 
won’t  mind  one  of  those  wooden  crosses 
for  a monument,  like  those  other  fellows 
have.” 

He  went  over  in  the  morning.  He 
didn’t  come  back.  He  has  a wooden 
cross  for  a monument.  And  those  of  us 
who  are  here  to  tell  the  story,  no  matter 
what  our  future  acts  may  be,  shall  never 
have  a monument  quite  so  high  or  quite 
so  glorious  as  his.  “He  lives  in  faxe,  that 
died  in  virtue’s  cause.” 

It  was  no  sordid  aim  that  took  that  man 
over  the  top.  With  the  fields  and  roads 
plowed  by  shell  fire,  with  the  trees  shat- 
tered and  splintered  and  torn,  with  build- 
ings razed  to  the  ground,  it  was  no  sordid 
aim  that  turned  the  tide  at  Chateau 
Thierry.  It  was  no  sordid  aim  that 
wiped  out  that  gas-soaked,  shell-shocked 
salient  at  St.  Mihiel.  It  was  no  sordid 


26 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


aim  that  took  the  Americans  through  the 
hery,  burning  hell  in  the  Argonne  Forest. 

Was  this  a war  for  democracy?  V/as 
it  a war  to  end  war?  Was  it  a war  for  a 
new  era,  a new  order,  a new  international 
order,  which  should  ensure  the  enforce- 
ment of  right  and  justice  between  nations? 

These  are  questions  to  which  the  soldier 
desires  an  answer.  There  are  a few  who 
say  it  is  all  bunk  and,  unfortunately  for 
us,  some  of  these  few  are  now  sitting  in 
‘the  United  States  Senate.  But  the  fact  is 
that  the  soldier  believed  it  was  not  bunk, 
and,  so  believing,  he  marched  willingly  to 
fight  and  often  but  not  less  willingly  to 
death. 

I testify  that  the  American  soldier  gave 
his  life  not  merely  to  win  a war  but  to 
win  a cause.  That  cause  involves  benefits 
and  it  involves  responsibilities.  Are  we 
going  to  assume  those  responsibilities  or 
are  we  going  to  dodge  them? 

When  John  Hay  sent  an  international 
expedition  into  China,  he  was  not  trying 
to  dodge  the  responsibility  of  the  United 
States.  When  that  great  student  of  John 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


27 


Hay’s,  and  that  great  American,  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt,  sent  Mr.  Henry  White, 
one  of  our  representatives  now  in  Paris, 
to  the  Algcciras  Convention,  he  was  not 
trying  to  dodge  the  responsibility  of  the 
United  States.  On  that  occasion  the 
Kaiser  sent  three  telegrams  to  Mr.  Roose- 
velt attempting  to  bring  about  a change 
in  his  attitude,  but  Roosevelt  stood  his 
ground,  with  the  result  that  French  claims 
were  established  in  Morocco  and  the 
Kaiser  had  to  back  down.  Finally,  my 
friends,  though  Senators  may  dodge,  when 
the  mothers  and  fathers  of  America  sent 
us  across  the  water,  they  were  not  trying 
to  dodge  the  responsibility  of  the  United 
States. 

We  can  now  establish  “a  reign  of  law 
based  on  the  consent  of  the  governed  and 
sustained  by  the  organized  opinion  of 
mankind,”  or  we  can  return  to  secret 
treaties  and  competitive  armaments.  The 
choice  is  yours.  The  new  order,  under 
the  leadership  of  President  Wilson  and 
Mr.  Taft,  with  all  that  it  means  to  man- 
kind: the  old  order,  with  the  verdict  of 


28 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


history  that  these  dead  have  died  in  vain; 
the  old  order,  a sorry  harvest  to  reap 
from  the  blood  of  seventy  thousand 
American  crusaders  that  has  soaked  the 
fields  of  France. 


Speech  Delivered  By 
Captain  Thomas  G.  Chamberlain 

Before  the  Mountain  Congress  for  a 
League  of  Nations^  Salt  Lake  City^ 
Utah,  February  22,  igiQ. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men : The  last  year  I spent  on  the  front 
in  France  I was  concerned  with  one  prob- 
lem and  one  problem  alone,  that, — the 
winning  of  the  war.  But  I have  had  an 
insight  into  the  thought  and  purpose  of 
the  man  who  has  borne  the  brunt  of  the 
fighting  and  to-day  I wish  to  tell  you  of 
that  thought  and  that  purpose,  and  some- 
thing of  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  were  determined. 

The  man  who  tells  you  that  the  soldier 
does  not  think,  does  not  know  him.  Of 
course,  there  is  no  time  in  the  army  for 
29 


30 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


drafting  constitutions  for  a League  of 
Nations.  With  the  details,  the  soldier  is 
little  concerned,  but  he  knov/s  how  neces- 
sary organization  is.  He  knows  that  he 
can’t  get  the  “ slum  ” into  his  messkit 
without  standing  in  line.  He  fought  with 
zeal  and  determination  to  defeat  Ger- 
many, spurred  on  by  the  belief  that  with 
a defeated  Germany,  an  effective  wmrld 
organization  v/ould  follow,  an  organiza- 
tion that  would  put  an  end  to  war. 

So  many  and  so  varied  have  been  the 
circumstances  under  which  this  belief  has 
been  expressed  to  me  that*  I hardly  know 
which  to  tell  you  of. 

But  turn  with  me  to  those  dark  days 
last  Spring,  those  days  after  Italy’s  forced 
retreat,  after  the  loss  of  Chemin-des- 
Dames,  after  the  split  between  the  Portu- 
guese and  British  armies,  after  the  sad 
experiences  of  the  Fifth  Army,  after  the 
drive  before  Soissons  and  Rheims,  the 
drive  that  forced  the  salient  through  to 
Chateau  Thierry.  Recall  those  days 
Vvdien  the  Germans  cam.e  on  and  on  and 
ever  on.  It  seemed  that  nothing  would 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


3^- 


stop  the  advancing  hordes.  Artillery  had 
been  massed  and  all  was  in  readiness  for 
the  final  drive  on  Paris,  which  was  to  end 
the  war. 

Then  came  the  Marines,  and  there  on 
the  6th  day  of  June  a glorious  page  in 
American  history  was  written.  As  the 
Greeks  of  old,  who  “ Gathered  the  bar> 
barian  sheaths  into  their  breasts  and,  by 
perishing,  saved  the  world,”  so  the 
Marines  drowned  the  German  monster  in 
a welter  of  American  blood.  Eight  thou- 
sand Marines  went  into  the  fight,  eighteen 
hundred  came  out  of  the  fight.  In  all  the 
history  of  land  warfare  there  has  never 
been  a body  of  troops  wTich,  for  courage, 
morale  and  determination,  could  excel  the 
United  States  Marines.  They  turned  the 
tide.  They  saved  Paris.  They  saved 
France.  They  saved  the  war.  They 
saved  the  world! 

You  have  heard  much  in  praise  of  the 
Marines,  and  they  are  worthy  of  it  all. 
Then,  too,  the  Aviators  played  a great 
part  in  the  victory.  Many  Esquadrilles 
had  replacements  running  over  one  hun- 


32 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


dred  per  cent,  every  few  days.  You  re- 
call what  that  great  leader,  Lloyd  George, 
said  of  the  aviators:  “They  are  the 
knighthood  of  the  war.  They  are  the 
cavalry  of  the  clouds.  Every  flight  is  a 
romance;  every  report  is  an  epic.”  All 
credit  to  the  Aviators. 

But  there  is  another  branch,  not  so 
much  heralded,  yet  worthy  of  much  credit. 
I refer  to  the  Infantryman,  the  “ dough- 
boy.” He  carries  a bayonet.  He  goes 
over  the  top.  He  meets  cold  steel  with 
cold  steel.  He  figlits.  I saw  one  com- 
pany of  infantrymen  go  into  the  lines  at 
Chateau  Thierry  with  two  hundred  and 
fifty  men.  That  company  came  out  of  the 
lines  with  twenty-nine  men. 

Here  it  was  that  I talked  with  the 
soldiers,  talked  with  them  under  circum- 
stances that  would  certainly  guarantee  the 
truth  and  the  sincerity  of  their  opinions. 
I talked  with  them  just  before  their 
deaths.  I know  that  the  soldier  did  not 
j believe  that  this  was  merely  a war  among 
f wars.  He  believed  this  to  be  an  epoch- 
making  war  and  that  something  mightily 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


33 


worth  while  would  follow  his  sacrifice. 

The  battlefield  was  thousands  of  miles 
from  the  United  States,  and  possibly  some 
judged  war  by  good-looking  uniforms  and 
a brass  band.  What  Senator  has  seen  the 
torn  and  mangled  bodies  of  fallen  men, 
men  hanging  on  the  wire  for  hours  with 
one  hope  and  one  prayer  and  that  for  a 
friendly  shot  to  end  the  agony.  I have 
seen  men’s  eyes  eaten  out  by  gas.  I have 
stood  by,  unable  to  help,  as  the  gas  ate 
slowly  into  their  lungs,  and  have  seen 
! them  gasp  for  the  final  breath.  That  is 
v/ar. 

And  the  worst  is  not  found  in  the  phy- 
sical suffering  of  the  men,  but  on  the  trail 
of  the  refugee.  There  are  those  who 
give  more  than  life  itself  — the  lives  of 
those  dear  to  them.  I have  seen  an  entire 
family  trudging  along  the  road  homeless, 
helpless,  hopeless,  perhaps  driving  a goat 
as  their  sole  possession,  but  more  often 
without  possession.  Once  I sav/  a mother 
^ carrying  a new-born  child.  The  mother 
looked  pale  and  haggard,  but  the  child  no 
i longer  suffered. 


34 


WHY.  WE  FOUGHT 


And  as  they  filed  along  the  roads,  they 
would  sometimes  stop  and  with  a stone, 
against  the  wall  of  a ruined  house,  write 
the  names  of  those  they  loved  and 
lost.  I remember  the  bent  and  tired  form 
of  an  old  French  peasant  who  asked  a 
light  at  dusk,  and,  as  the  tears  streamed 
down  his  face,  he  wrote  his  name  and 
that  of  his  beloved  wife.  Over  and  over 
again  he  wrote  the  names  of  a couple 
parted,  perhaps  forever;  and,  as  he  wrote, 
he  dropped  the  stone,  turned,  went  sob- 
bing out  into  the  darkness  which  led,  he 
knew  not  where. 

I returned  to  this  country  on  a ship 
with  two  thousand  w^ounded  men.  There 
were  legs  gone,  arms  gone,  eyes  gone. 
Sometimes  so  much  gone  that  it  seemed 
’twere  better  if  all  were  gone.  On  the 
boat  there  was  a cage  for  shell-shocked 
mxcn  — men  driven  insane.  I liked  to  talk 
with  the  wounded  men  because  among 
them  I found  a spirit  unequaled.  One 
young  fellow,  leaning  on  crutches  and  sup- 
porting one  crutch  by  a stump  of  an  arm 
while  nursing  a bad  head-wound,  said  he 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


35 


would  have  preferred  a grave  in  France, 
but  added,  “ At  last  the  world  has  learned 
the  lesson  that  wars  must  end.” 

It  was  from  such  scenes  of  hopefulness 
as  this  that  I went  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  there,  to  my  utter  dismay,  I 
found  that  the  very  principles  were  being 
condemned  for  which  American  soldiers 
have  been  giving  their  lives. 

It  may  seem  presumptuous  for  a mere 
soldier,  one  among  four  millions,  to  take 
issue  with  one  so  high  and  dignified  as  a 
United  States  Senator.  I claim  no  more 
credit  for  myself  than  is  due  to  the  lowest 
“ buck  ” private  who  carried  a rifle  in  the 
rear  rank;  but  that  lowest  private  can 
stand  squarely  on  his  two  feet,  look  full  in 
the  face  the  most  distinguished  descendant 
of  Rip  Van  Winkle  who  ever  sat  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  the  greatest  man 
who  ever  represented  or  misrepresented 
the  American  people  In  that  body,  and  say, 
“ When  it  was  a matter  of  the  honor  and 
integrity  of  our  country;  yes,  when  it  was 
a matter  of  the  life  or  death  of  our  nation, 
I was  on  the  firing  line.” 


36  WHY  WE  FOUGHT 

The  plain  soldier  has  earned  a right 
to  be  heard.  He  asks  that  American 
opinion  hear  him  and  then  he  says : “ We 

have  had  enough  of  war.  We  have  accom- 
plished our  end  in  the  army  by  organi- 
zation. We  believe  in  organization. 
Internationally,  we  are  unorganized. 
Internationally,  we  are  in  a state  of 
anarchy.  We  don’t  believe  in  anarchy. 
We  believe  in  order  through  organiza- 
tion.” 

The  soldier  fought  to  make  the  world 
safe  for  democracy  and  he  is  going  to 
fight  to  keep  it  safe.  The  American 
people  accepted  President  Wilson’s  state- 
ment of  our  war  aims,  and  supported  the 
war  with  the  conviction  that  the  defeat 
of  Germany  Avould  mean  the  birth  of  a 
new  freedom.  All  of  the  belligerent 
countries  and  the  great  mass  of  mankind 
the  world  over  accepted  the  Fourteen 
Points,  one  of  which  provided  for  a 
League  of  Nations,  as  the  basis  for  the 
armistice,  and  as  the  only  basis  for  a just 
and  lasting  peace.  The  fact  that  the 
soldier  fought  and  bled  and  died  for  a 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


37 


better  order,  that  the  American  people 
poured  out  their  money  in  the  faith  that 
a new  era  approached,  that  all  the 
belligerent  governments  accepted  the  prin- 
ciple of  a League  of  Nations,  that  the 
mass  of  mankind,  the  world  over,  has 
hoped  and  prayed  for  the  end  of  war,  did 
not  prevent  Senator  Borah  from  saying  on 
the  floor  of  the  United  States  Senate, 
without  even  a suggestion  for  better  or- 
ganization, “ If  the  Savior  of  mankind 
should  revisit  the  earth  and  declare  for  a 
league  of  nations,  I would  be  opposed  to 
it.”  Is  this  the  representative  of  the 
American  people  or  are  they  more  truly 
represented  by  the  men  who  made  the 
supreme  sacrifice  for  a better  world? 

Twenty-four  hundred  years  ago  Greece 
at  Plataea  defeated  her  Persian  invaders 
and  drove  them  finally  and  forever  from 
her  lands.  To  her  dead  soldiers  she 
erected  a monument.  For  that  monu- 
ment her  poet,  Simonides,  wrote  the 
Epitaph.  In  that  epitaph  he  made  the 
dead  heroes  speak  and  this  is  what  they 
said:  “ If  to  die  nobly  is  the  chief  part 


38 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


of  excellence,  then  to  us  of  all  men  Fortune 
gave  this  lot;  for,  by  hastening  to  set  a 
crown  of  freedom  on  Hellas,  we  lie  pos- 
sessed of  praise  that  grows  not  old.”  By 
so  much  as  the  freedom  of  the  world  to- 
day is  of  greater  moment  than  was  the 
freedom  of  Greece  of  old,  by  that  larger 
measure  do  our  dead  heroes  lie  possessed 
of  praise  that  can  never  grow  old. 

I speak  and  feel  as  I do,  not  primarily 
because  I admire  President  Wilson  as  a 
great  leader  in  a great  cause,  not  primarily 
because  I admire  Mr.  Taft  as  a man  big 
enough  to  put  principle  above  partisanship, 
not  because  of  any  debt  I owe  to  any  liv- 
ing man,  but  because  of  a debt  I owe,  and 
because  of  a debt  you  owe,  to  almost 
100,000  of  America’s  best  citizens,  who 
now  lie  sleeping  in  lonely  graves  in  the 
far-off  fields  of  France.  To-day  a voice 
comes  to  me  and  to  you  from  that  distant 
^ land.  It  speaks  with  one  accord  and  asks, 
“ Have  we  died  in  vain  ? Oh,  have  we 
died  in  vain ! ” 


Speech  Delivered  By 
Captain  Thomas  G.  Chamberlain 

Before  the  Mid-Contineni  Congress  fot 
a League  of  Nations y Si.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri^ February  26,  iQig. 

One  year  ago  I was  in  the  city  ot  Paris 
when  forty  German  Gothas,  painted  black 
and  flying  at  120  miles  an  hour,  came  over 
the  city  and  dropped  their  bombs.  Great 
buildings  were  destroyed;  men,  women 
and  children  were  killed.  There  were 
only  forty  planes.  Why  should  there  not 
be  four  thousand?  If  we  go  on  under  a 
system  of  competitive  armaments,  there 
will  be,  and  the  city  will  be  destroyed  in 
a single  night,  before  there  has  been  a 
declaration  of  war;  and  there  is  no  city 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  that  need  not 
await  the  tame  fate.  Considering  the 
present  development  of  the  hydroplane 
39 


40 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


and  the  number  of  such  planes  that  can  be 
transported  on  a single  ship,  no  city  could 
feel  secure. 

I was  in  Paris  when  “ Big  Bertha,”  the 
German  long-range  gun,  opened  fire  on 
the  city.  At  regular  1 5-minute  intervals 
the  bursts  occurred  and  each  burst  spelled 
destruction  and  death.  There  were  only 
two  guns  — why  should  there  not  be  200 
with  bursts  occurring  at  intervals  of  a few 
seconds  or  continuously?  I have  seen  a 
tank  come  up  out  of  a shell  hole,  the  sides 
of  which  were  so  steep,  that  a man  could 
not  climb  up.  Tanks  as  large  as  locomo- 
tives — why  not  movable  forts  with  heavy 
guns? 

Recently  an  American  flew  over  the  city 
of  London  in  a Handley-Page  with  forty 
passengers.  Within  the  last  few  months 
we  have  come  to  classify  bombs  by  tons 
rather  than  by  pounds,  as  previously. 
We  know  that  an  American  scientist  dis- 
covered a gas  so  deadly  that  a few  bombs 
containing  it  would  have  destroyed  every 
vestige  of  life  in  Berlin.  Both  sides  so 
feared  the  resultant  horrors  that  they 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


41 


hesitated  at  dropping  gas  bombs  on  cities. 
To  consider  the  possibility  of  the  de- 
veloped engines  of  war  — the  developed 
aeroplane,  tank,  long-range  gun,  gas  bomb, 
gas  shell,  submarine,  under  the  system  of 
competitive  armaments  — is  to  arrive  at 
the  inevitable  conclusion  that  civilization 
must,  here  and  now,  end  w^ar  or  be  ended 
by  it. 

Competitive  armaments  not  only  cause 
war  and  therefore  constitute  a challenge 
to  civilization  itself,  but  they  undermine 
the  very  foundation  of  free  government. 
President  Lowell,  distinguished  authority 
on  political  Institutions  that  he  Is,  will  tell 
you  that  English  political  history  repre- 
sents a struggle  for  the  establishment  of 
the  principle  that  the  House  of  Commons 
is  supreme,  that  the  House  of  Commons 
shall  determine  questions  of  policy  and  de- 
termine the  amount  of  taxation.  In  1913 
the  first  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  appeared 
in  the  House  and  said,  “ Germany  has 
undertaken  an  increase  In  her  naval 
program.  When  Germany  lays  two  keels, 
we  must  lay  three.”  Accordingly,  the 


42 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


proposed  increase  in  the  Navy  was  under- 
taken and  the  necessary  taxes  were  voted. 

In  France,  where  representative  gov- 
ernment was  only  established  by  a bloody 
revolution,  the  length  of  compulsory 
military  service  was  determined  by  the  , 
whim  of  the  Kaiser.  An  increase  in  the 
German  army  meant  an  increase  in  the 
French  army.  Our  own  military  and  ; 
naval  policy  will  be  determined  by  the  ac-  j 
tion  of  other  nations.  The  peoples  of 
the  world  can  eliminate  a policy  dictated  ! 
by  fear  and  suspicion  and  gain  true  rep- 
resentation only  through  the  meeting  of 
their  representatives  for  common  action, 
as  proposed  by  the  League  of  Nations. 
Final  consent  is,  of  course,  reserved  to 
our  own  Congress. 

We  w^ent  into  this  war  for  the  verv 
good  and  sufficient  reason  that  we  could 
not  keep  out  with  honor.  There  are  som'’ 
people,  apparently,  who  do  not  yet  realize 
that  when  Germany  attacked  France  and 
Belgium  she  was  attacking  the  United 
States.  Freedom  was  at  stake.  Our  | 
ships  were  sunk  on  the  high  seas;  our  -j 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


43 


citizens  were  ruthlessly  murdered  on  mer- 
chant vessels  where  they  had  a right, 
under  international  law,  to  be.  When 
free  institutions  are  challenged  the  United 
States  stands  ready  to  oppose  and  we  will 
not  ask  that  others  fight  our  battles.  We 
are  not  ashamed  of  our  record  in  this 
war.  We  are  now  ready  to  stand  with  all 
free  peoples  for  the  freedom  of  the  world, 
just  as  we  have  stood  during  the  last  year.  . 

The  policy  of  glorious  isolation  didn’t  ^ 
keep  us  out  of  this  war,  and  it  won’t 
keep  us  out  of  any  great  war.  Mechanical 
methods  and  modern  transportation  have 
made  the  world  smaller.  To-day,  the 
peace  of  the  world  is  the  business  of  the 
world  and  in  that  business  the  United 
States  must  take  full  share  of  the  benefits 
and  the  burdens.  That  is  only  fair  play. 

George  Washington  was  a man  who 
looked^  squarely  at  the  facts  and  then 
looked  forward.  George  Washington 
was  the  man  who  presided  at  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention  that  gave  us  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Was 
he  looking  backward?  At  the  time  of  his 


44 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


farewell  address,  he  certainly  had  no  such 
world  organization,  as  is  here  proposed, 
in  mind.  The  very  purpose  of  this  or- 
ganization is  to  prevent  the  alliances  he 
objected  to.  I firmly  believe  that  if 
George  Washington  were  alive  to-day  he 
would  favor  the  League  of  Nations. 

Even  if  it  were  admitted  that  Washing- 
ton, in  his  day,  opposed  such  organiza- 
tion, nothing  is  established  thereby. 
Washington  said  that  a stage-coach  was 
the  best  means  of  transportation  and  in 
his  day  he  was  entirely  right.  Great 
disciples  of  Washington  that  certain 
Senators  have  recently  become,  they  don’t 
use  the  stage-coach. 

From  one  year  in  France  I learned  the 
true  fueling  of  the  American  soldier. 
While  ht  had  no  elaborate  means  of  ex- 
pression and  no  elegant  ideas  on  the  de- 
tails of  a League  of  Nations,  he  believed 
that  something  mightily  worth  while 
would  follow  his  sacrifice  — that  he 
warred  to  end  war  and  that  out  of  his 
efforts  would  come  an  effective  interna- 
tional organization  which  could  render  the 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT  45 

recurrence  of  such  a catastrophe  improb- 
able if  not  impossible. 

I recall  those  dark  days  last  Spring 
after  the  defeat  of  Italy,  the  loss  of 
Chemin-des-Dames  by  the  French,  the  de- 
feat of  the  Portuguese  in  Flanders  and  the 
breakdown  of  the  British  Fifth  Army  in 
Picardy.  It  seemed  that  nothing  could 
stop  the  German  armies  and,  as  they  drew 
closer  and  closer  toward  Paris,  the  ques- 
tion was  asked  with  greater  and  greater 
anxiety,  “ Who  can  stop  the  onslaught?  ” 
How  proud  I was  as  an  American  in 
those  dark  days,  to  see  the  American 
standard  raised  high  at  Chateau  Thierry 
and  carried  victoriously  onward  through 
St.  Mihiel  and  the  Argonne  Forest  toward 
the  River  Rhine.  In  this  critical  period 
of  the  world’s  history,  when  the  peoples 
of  the  earth  cry  out  for  leadership,  is  the 
United  States  going  to  stand  up  to  the 
standard  of  leadership  erected  by  her 
soldiers?  That  is  the  issue! 

It  was  a great  surprise  to  me  upon  re- 
turning to  this  country  to  find  that  the 
very  principles  for  which  the  American 


46 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


soldier  has  been  dying  on  the  battlefields 
of  France  were  being  condemned  on  the 
floor  of  the  United  States  Senate;  and 
what  is  the  argument  he  hears?  He  is 
told  that  in  1848  the  United  States  had 
trouble  with  Mexico  — that  we  got  what 
we  wanted,  and  he  is  asked  if  such  a case 
should  recur  would  we  wish  to  leave  it  to 
foreigners. 

j-  If  this  war  has  established  any  principle 
it  has  established  the  principle  that  there 
is  a moral  law  above  the  state  and  to 
that  moral  law  the  state  must  answer. 
It  was  the  Kaiser  who  believed  that  the 
state  was  all  supreme  and  irresponsible. 

The  trouble  with  certain  Senators  is 
that  they  are  steeped  in  the  philosophy  of 
Kaiser  Wilhelm,  the  philosophy  we  fought 
to  kill,  the  philosophy  that  died  with  the 
defeat  of  Germany. 

And  who  are  these  fearful  foreigners? 
It  now  happens  that  there  are  about  two 
million  “ Yanks  ” who,  by  close  associa- 
tion, by  living  in  the  same  dugouts  with 
“ Poilus  ’’  and  “ Tommies,”  have  learned 
a new  lesson.  We  have  discovered  that 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


47 


the  Britisher,  Frenchman,  and  Italian  are 
two-legged  animals,  like  ourselves,  who 
cat,  sleep,  fight;  yes,  and  even  think  as 
we  do,  and  we  have  about  made  up  our 
minds  that  we  can  better  put  our  trust 
in  these  fearful  foreigners  than  in  certain 
men  who  claim  to  represent  us  in  the 
United  States  Senate. 

Throughout  the  great  war  the  world  ) 
has  turned  to  America  for  moral  leader- 
ship. It  now  rests  with  the  power  of  a 
United  American  opinion  to  lead  the  world 
to  the  victory  of  Peace  by  the  establish- 
ment of  an  effective  League  of  Nations. 


Speech  Delivered  By 
Captain  Thomas  G.  Chamberlain 

Before  the  Southern  Congress  for  a 
League  of  Nations , Atlanta,  Georgia, 
February  28,  igig. 

The  fight  for  a League  of  Nations  will 
go  on,  but  so  far  as  this  trip  is  concerned 
we  are  approaching  the  end  of  the  trail. 
Those  of  you  who  attended  the  World’s 
Fair  in  1915  at  San  Francisco  remember 
the  statue  of  the  duck  baby,  and  those 
lines  — 

“ Thus  ever  it  is  in  this  world  of  ours, 

The  brightest  light  must  fail, 

There  is  a tear  in  the  c^^e  and  an  aching  heart. 
When  we  come  to  the  end  of  the  trail.” 

So  it  is  that  I feel  about  this  trip. 

Great  changes  are  wrought  by  war.  A 
few  months  ago  I was  riding  in  a box  car 
48 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


49 


in  France,  a car  with  holes  in  it  large 
enough  to  throw  a cat  through  while  the 
temperature  was  several  degrees  below 
zero.  The  car  bore  that  label  which  has 
become  a slogan  with  the  American 
Expeditionary  Forces,  “ 40  Hommes,  8 
Cheveaux.”  I translate  it,  not  because  I 
doubt  that  there  are  those  who  do  not 
speak  the  language  of  our  glorious  ally, 
but  because  I have  reason  to  doubt  my 
own  pronunciation.  As  one  of  the  men 
in  my  battery  said  when  writing  home  to 
his  mother,  “I  studied  French  for  two 
years  before  I came  over  here  and  speak 
it  perfectly,  but  these  people  don’t  know 
their  own  language.”  40  Hommes,  8 
Cheveaux, — 40  men,  8 horses,  and  the  only 
difference  was  that  the  horses  had  straw 
to  sleep  on.  My  bunkie  on  that  box  car 
was  an  Italian,  who  spoke  no  English.  I 
know  that  he  spoke  no  English;  I also 
know  that  I speak  no  Italian.  Because 
several  weeks  later  he  came  to  me  and 
said  something  that  sounded  like  the  Latin 
I ©nee  learned  and  forgot.  I thought  he 
wanted  to  visit  one  of  the  towns  in  the 


50 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


rear  and,  desiring  to  give  him  the  same 
privileges  that  the  other  men  had,  I said, 
yes.  He  left,  and  didn’t  return;  and  later 
I learned  that  he  had  gone  to-  Italy — so 
far  as  I know,  with  my  permission.  Such 
are  the  changes  wrought  by  war  that  in 
the  course  of  a few  short  months  I have 
graduated  from  that  humble  box  car  in 
France,  with  my  humble  bunkie,  to  the 
special  car  of  the  ex-President  of  the 
United  States,  and  my  bunkie  is  none  other 
than  the  distinguished  scholar  and  learned 
head  of  one  of  our  greatest  universities. 
Dr.  Lowell. 

I wish  to  have  a personal  talk  with  you. 
I wish  to  talk  about  myself.  I haven’t 
ventured  to  do  this  before  because  I de- 
sired to  finish  the  trip,  but  now  we  have 
(arrived  at  the  end  of  the  trail.  I gradu- 
ated from  the  University  of  California  in 
1915  and  returned  to  the  University  for 
two  years’  graduate  work  in  the  legal  de- 
partment, during  which  time  I held  a 
teaching  fellowship  in  Government.  I 
had  occasion  to  follow  very  closely  the 
events  prior  to  the  entry  of  the  United 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


51 


States  into  the  war  and  to  consider  the 
purpose  of  the  war.  Soon  after  our  gov- 
ernment came  in  I enlisted  in  the  army 
and  there  I made  it  my  business  to  find 
out  what  the  men  thought.  In  the  camps 
of  this  country,  on  the  high  seas,  in  the 
hospitals  of  France  and  in  the  trenches  I 
have  talked  with  the  soldiers.  The 
soldier  believed  that  this  actually  was  a 
war  for  democracy;  he  did  not  consider 
this  a war  among  wars;  he  considered  this 
an  epoch-making  war.  He  believed  that 
something  mightily  worth  while  would  fol- 
low his  sacrifice. 

I sometimes  wonder  if  the  situation  last 
Spring  looked  as  serious  to  you  on  this 
side  as  it  did  to  us  over  there.  We  knew 
of  Italy’s  misfortune,  we  knew  the  im- 
portance of  Chemin-des-Dames,  and  that 
the  French,  after  a fight  against  great 
odds,  had  lost  it.  We  knew  of  the  retreat 
of  the  Portuguese  in  Flanders  and  of  the 
British  5th  Army  in  Picardy.  We  knev/ 
that  the  German  hordes  were  coming  on 
and  on.  As  we  went  out  from  Paris  to 
Chateau  Thierry  last  Spring,  w'e  could  see 


52 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


the  appearance  of  despair  on  every  hand. 
French  peasants  had  piled  high  their  two- 
wheeled carts  with  household  goods  and 
were  leaving  for  other  parts.  The  ques- 
tion was  asked  on  every  hand  — who  can 
stop  the  German  advance?  Troops  re- 
turning from  the  line  looked  v/orn  and 
v/eary  and  did  not  seem  to  entertain  much 
hope  for  the  situation.  I remember  the 
night  at  dusk  when  it  seemed  that  all  was 
lost,  there  came  swinging  up  the  road  a 
long  column  of  troops  and  they  were  sing- 
ing, “ The  Yanks  are  coming,  the  Yanks 
are  coming.”  And  the  Yanks  were  com- 
ing. 

As  they  marched  along  the  road  a 
French  liaison  officer,  pale  and  excited,  ap- 
proached Colonel  Wise,  saluted,  and  said 
hurriedly,  “ Sir,  your  orders  are  to  hold 
the  advance  as  long  as  possible  and  then 
retreat  to  the  trenches ; we  will  prepare  for 
you  in  the  rear.” 

“ Retreat,”  said  Colonel  Wise.  “ Re- 
treat Hell;  we  are  just  coming,  we  will  let 
the  Germans  retreat,” — and  the  Germans 
retreated. 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


53 


In  one  determined  smash  the  whole 
course  of  the  world’s  history  was  changed. 
When  it  seemed  that  all  was  lost  I was 
proud  at  Chateau  Thierry  as  an  American 
to  see  the  American  standard  raised  and 
carried  victoriously  forward.  It  took  that 
same  standard  to  wipe  out  the  salient  at 
St.  Mihiel.  It  was  that  same  standard 
that  waded  through  hell  in  the  Argonne 
Forest,  and  went  victoriously  on  to  the 
river  Rhine,  on  to  the  victorious  end  of  the 
greatest  war  of  all  time. 

At  this  critical  period  in  the  World’s 
history,  when  the  peoples  of  the  world  cry 
out  for  leadership,  is  American  opinion  go- 
ing to  rally  round  the  standard  which 
American  soldiers  raised  on  foreign  bat- 
tlefields? There  are  those  who  ask  re- 
treat, but  the  American  soldier  answers 
just  as  Colonel  Wise  answered  at  Chateau 
Thierry. 

A few  weeks  ago  I visited  the  United 
States  Senate  and  was  utterly  dismayed 
to  find  that  the  principles  for  which 
American  soldiers  have  been  dying  in 
France  were  being  condemned  on  the  floor 


54 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


of  the  Senate.  It  makes  my  blood  boil 
to  think  that  our  distinguished  representa- 
tives do  not  display  the  same  willingness 
to  play  the  game  that  was  displayed  by 
our  men  over  there. 

Well  may  it  be  said  that  if  Mr.  Taft 
were  a modern  Catiline  condemned  by 
Cicero  for  conspiracy,  and  if  President 
Wilson  were  an  Aaron  Burr  of  to-day, 
their  condemnation  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate  could  not  be  more  bitter.  Yet  of 
what  crime  are  they  guilty?  In  all  sin- 
cerity and  in  all  earnestness  they  have  at- 
tempted to  do  the  will  of  God  and  fulfil 
that  prayer  of  the  Savior,  for  “ Peace  on 
Earth,  Good  Will  Toward  Men.” 

As  this  is  my  Swan  Song  I wish  to  read 
you  a bit  of  verse  which  I have  never  read 
to  an  audience  before,  and  may  never 
again.  It  was  written  by  a man  in  my 
Battery,  a “buck”  private;  not  even  a 
first-class  private.  He  wrote  this  in  a 
letter  to  his  mother,  and  while  censoring 
the  letter  I found  it.  That  it  represents 
the  thought  and  purpose  of  the  soldier  is 
borne  out  by  the  fact  that  practically  every 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


55 


ni":i  in  the  Battery  made  a copy  and  sent 
it  home,  if  he  knew  how  to  write  and  if 
he  had  a home. 

Why  is  this  strife  and  turmoil 
Loose  in  the  world  to-day? 

Why  are  the  armies  gathered? 

Why  is  this  warlike  display? 

Each  night  the  flare  of  the  cannon 
Paint  the  northern  skies  all  red, 

Each  eve  are  hundreds  of  missing  — 
Missing  — wounded  or  dead. 

Farmers  are  gone  from  the  harvest, 
Husbands  are  gone  from  their  wives. 

The  earth  is  plunged  in  sorrow 
Mourning  a million  lives, 

Children  cry  for  their  fathers 
And  women  grieve  for  their  men, 

Mothers,  half  doubting,  are  praying 
Their  sons  shall  return  again. 

Towns  and  cities  arc  ruined, 

Thousands  of  fields  lie  bare, 

War  holds  earth  in  her  clutches. 

The  sea  and  the  land  and  the  air. 

What  can  the  old  v/ar  offer 
As  a recompense  for  this? 

Can  the  things  we  shall  gain  ever  ban^ 

The  forms  and  the  faces  we  miss? 

What  of  the  wife,  now  a widow? 


56 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


And  the  mother  whose  sons  are  gone  ? 
Will  peace  bring  back  our  missing 
And  happiness  go  on? 

Cheer  up,  O grieving  mothers 
And  ail  of  you  who  mourn, 

Our  dead  are  dead  victorious 
For  the  larger  w^orld  unborn. 

» To  them  fell  the  task  of  the  ages 
And,  oh,  how  gloriously 
Have  they  fought  and  died  and  suffered 
To  free  Humanity. 

Free  from  the  bands  and  the  shackles 
That  bound  us  to  the  past; 

Free  from  the  strife  and  struggle 
' And  to  make  this  v/ar  the  last. 

Free,  and  each  man  in  kindred 
To  a hundred  million  others. 

And  earth  again  an  Eden 

Where  men  may  dwell  as  brothers. 


i 


Speech  Delivered  By 
Captain  Thomas  G.  Chamberlain 

Before  the  State  Convention  for  a League 
of  Nations,  Portland,  Maine,  May  2g, 
igig. 

“ There  is  a tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to 
fortune.”  Judging  from  the  arguments 
against  the  League  by  certain  Senators 
they  would  class  these  lines  as  a very  low 
form  of  literature  because  they  were 
written  by  an  Englishman.  But  most  of 
us  require  a little  more  proof  than  that 
to  establish  their  worthlessness,  and  most 
of  the  United  States  will  judge  the  Cov- 
enant of  Paris  on  its  merit.  A great  tide 
in  the  affairs  of  the  world  has  come.  We 
must  take  it  at  the  flood  and  go  on  to 
fortune;  or  reject  it  and  before  the  tears 
and  blood  of  this  war  are  dry,  prepare  for 
57 


58 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


another  world  catastrophe  under  which 
our  civilization  cannot  endure. 

We  stand  at  the  threshold  of  a new  and 
better  world  order.  There  is  danger  that 
we  shall  not  enter,  but  there  is  more  im- 
minent danger  that  by  amendment  we  shall 
ruin  the  very  foundation  of  the  structure 
in  which  our  high  hopes  are  housed. 

We  come  before  you  advocating  the 
League  of  Nations  as  it  is.  We  ask  only 
that  you  read  the  Covenant,  come  to  a 
decision,  and  do  all  in  your  power  to  make 
your  decision  the  decision  of  your  govern- 
ment. 

The  people  of  the  country  who  very 
properly  turn  to  their  Senators  for  enlight- 
enment hear  from.  Senator  Reed  that  the 
Covenant  is  a cruel  and  monstrous  docu- 
ment by  VvTich  the  United  States  would 
be  enslaved  to  black  and  yellow  races. 
That  statement  is  untrue  and  the  proof 
tiiat  it  is  untrue  is  to  be  found  in  the  Cov- 
enant itself.  I ask  you  in  all  solemnity: 
Is  a stricken  humanity  standing  amidst  the 
blood  and  ashes  of  the  cruelest  war  of  all 
history  to  be  defeated  as  it  gropes  toward 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


59 


peaceful  settlement  of  international  diffi- 
culties by  bald  and  unvarnished  misstate- 
ments of  fact? 

That  statement  of  Senator  Reed’s  must 
be  denounced  as  a malign  attempt  to  defeat 
by  the  politician’s  tongue  what  has  been 
won  by  the  soldier’s  blood. 

Will  the  ratification  of  the  League  mark 
the  day  of  America’s  surrender  to  foreign 
powers?  The  foundation  principles,  the 
corner  stones  of  the  League,  are  disarma- 
ment and  arbitration,  and  these  are  Ameri- 
can principles.  More  international  dis- 
putes have  been  peacefully  settled  since  the 
founding  of  our  Republic  than  were  set- 
tled in  all  human  history,  prior  to  that 
time.  In  1790  Congress  provided  that 
our  army  should  consist  of  “ twelve  hun- 
dred souls.”  Before  the  Civil  War  there 
were  fifteen  thousand  men  in  the  Federal 
Army.  Before  this  war  we  had  an  army 
of  one  hundred  thousand  men  as  against 
the  millions  in  the  European  armies.  The 
ratification  of  the  Covenant  by  the  Senate 
will  not  mark  the  day  of  America’s 
surrender  to  foreign  powers;  rather  will 


6o 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


it  mark  the  day  of  America’s  triumph, 
for  on  that  day  will  great  American  prin- 
ciples be  spread  to  all  the  world. 

There  is  talk  of  a treaty  of  peace  first, 
and  a League  of  Nations  afterward.  I 
hope  that  peace  comes  quickly;  I hope  that 
the  treaty  may  soon  be  in  force;  but  as 
one  who  has  seen  the  results  of  a violated 
treaty,  who  has  seen  the  rape  of  Belgium, 
the  death  and  destruction  that  followed 
in  the  wake  of  that  decision  to  regard  a 
solemn  treaty  obligation  as  a scrap*  of 
paper,  I hope  that  peace  never  comes,  I 
hope  that  the  treaty  never  goes  into  force, 
until  as  part  and  parcel  of  that  treaty 
there  is  an  organization  to  stand  behind 
it,  to  guarantee  its  terms  and  to  enforce 
those  terms. 

Suppose  we  provide  in  the  Treaty,  as  we 
should  and  as  we  have,  that  Poland  is  to 
be  an  independent  state.  Suppose  that 
Germany  signs  the  Treaty.  Suppose  that 
ia  a few  months  or  in  a few  years  Ger- 
many decides  to  annex  Poland.  Now, 
consider  the  chaos  of  Russia,  the  condi- 
tion of  England  — in  fact,  of  the  British 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT  6i 

Empire  — after  the  drains  made  by  this 
war.  Consider  the  condition  of  the  in- 
dustries of  France,  of  those  towns  along 
the  French  border  as  I have  seen  them 
and  as  you  know  them  to  be,  and  tell  me 
what  power  is  there  to  step  in  at  once  and 
stop  that  aggression  should  it  be  under- 
taken. Ladies  and  gentlemen,  there  is  no 
power  and  there  will  be  none  unless  it  be 
the  I^eague  of  Nations. 

Did  we  set  up  before  the  world  that  the 
rights  of  small  peoples  are  just  as  sacred 
as  the  rights  of  great  and  powerful  and 
declare  that  the  fulfilment  of  that  prin- 
ciple was  one  of  our  war  aims  only  to  back 
out,  only  to  back  down,  now  at  this  the 
hour  of  greatest  hope  of  these  peoples, 
when  it  seems  that  after  years  of  oppres- 
sion they  are  about  to  realize  these  na- 
tional hopes,  these  racial  aspirations,  this 
great  ideal,  the  great  American  ideal  of 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness? 
Millions  of  struggling  people  took  on  a 
new  vitality  during  the  war  and  putting 
their  hope,  their  faith,  and  their  trust  in 
America  fought  on  to  a state  of  utter  ex- 
haustion. 


62 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


Would  you  call  out  to  a drowning  man, 
“ Don’t  give  up,  I’ll  save  you,”  and 
after  he  had  spent  his  strength  in  the 
struggle  and  you  had  brought  him  to  the 
wharf,  would  you  leave  him  helpless  to 
be  hurled  back  into  the  black  abyss  of 
despair  by  the  first  enemy  that  happens 
along?  Would  you  leave  him  when  his 
weakened  condition  is  due  to  his  faith  in 
you?  No,  you  would  not.  Not  if  you 
were  an  American  and,  thank  God,  I know 
what  an  American  is  to-day! 

When  I w^as  a boy,  and  that  wasn’t  very 
many  years  ago,  I read  of  the  glorious 
deeds  of  the  men  of  Bunker  Hill  and 
Gettysburg  and  I was  thrilled  by  their  per- 
formance. Then  I read  that  the  Amer- 
icans of  to-day  were  mere  slaves  of  greed, 
money  grubbers,  v/hite  and  lily-livered. 
But  to-day  I know  that  the  Americans  of 
your  blood  and  your  generation  know  how 
to  suffer  and  how  to  die  and  beside  the  men 
of  Bunker  Hill  and  Gettysburg  can  stand 
the  men  of  Chateau  Thierry  and  the  Ar- 
gonne  Forest. 

The  League  of  Nations  is  not  a auestiop 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


63 


of  magnanimous  philanthropy.  It  is  a 
simple  question  of  simple  justice,  and  in 
this  fight  for  justice  we  stake  our  leaders, 
Mr.  Taft  and  President  Lowell  and  the 
rest,  against  all  their  Reeds  and  all  their 
Borahs,  remembering  as  we  do  that 

“Thrice  is  he  arm’d  that  hath  his  quarrel  just, 
And  he  but  naked,  though  lock’d  up  in  steel, 
Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  corrupted.” 

A square  deal  to  small  peoples  calls  for 
the  League  of  Nations  now.  We  need 
the  League  as  a part  of  that  Treaty  of 
Peace.  We  didn’t  fight  this  war  to  set  up 
a mere  truce ; we  deserve  a peace  worthy  of 
our  effort. 

I can  tell  you  in  all  truthfulness  that 
America  was  not  misrepresented  on  the 
fighting  front.  She  couldn’t  afford  to  be 
— there  was  too  much  at  stake.  And 
there  is  too  much  at  stake  now,  to  have  her 
misrepresented  in  the  U.  S.  Senate.  Are 
you  going  to  allow  her  to  be  misrepre- 
sented in  this  great  crisis  of  the  world’s 
history? 

We  owe  it  to  those  v/ho  are  not  going 


64  WHY  WE  FOUGHT 

to  come  back  to  set  up  a structure  worthy 
of  their  sacrifice.  They  were  enthused 
and  fired  to  a pitch  where  death  was  not 
feared  by  the  belief  that  this  was  a war 
for  great  principles,  a war  for  democracy, 
a war  to  end  war.  One  of  the  men  w-ho 
ha:s  a wooden  cross  in  Flanders  for  a 
monument  sent  this  challenge  to  each  and 
every  one  of  us  just  before  he  went  down 
to  his  death: 

In  Flanders  fields  the  poppies  grow 
Between  the  crosses,  row  on  row", 

That  mark  our  place : and  in  the  sky 
The  larks  still  bravely  singing,  fly 
Scarce  heard  amid  the  guns  below. 

We  are  the  Dead.  Short  days  ago 
We  lived,  felt  dawn,  saw’  sunset  glow. 
Loved,  and  w^ere  loved,  and  now^  we  lie 
In  Flanders  fields. 

Take  up  our  quarrel  with  the  foe: 

To  you  from  failing  hands  we  throw 
The  Torch:  be  yours  to  hold  it  high! 

If  ye  break  faith  with  us  who  die 
We  shall  not  sleep,  though  poppies  grow 
In  Flanders  fields. 


COVENANT  OF  THE  LEAGUE 
OF  NATIONS 


Adopted  at  the  Plenary  Session  of  thi 
Interallied  Peace  Conference, 

April  28,  1919 

In  order  to  promote  international  cooperation 
and  to  achieve  international  peace  and  security, 
by  the  acceptance  of  obligations  not  to  resort  to 
war,  by  the  prescription  of  open,  just  and  honor- 
able relations  between  nations,  by  the  firm  estab- 
lishment of  the  understandings  of  international 
law  as  the  actual  rule  of  conduct  among  Gov- 
ernments, and  by  the  maintenance  of  justice  and 
a scrupulous  respect  for  all  treaty  obligations  in 
the  dealings  of  organized  peoples  with  one  an- 
other, the  high  contracting  parties  agree  to  this 
Covenant  of  the  League  of  Nations: 

Article  I 

MEMBERSHIP  AND  WITHDRAWAL 

I.  The  original  members  of  the  League  of  Na- 
tions shall  be  those  of  the  signatories  which  are 
named  in  the  annex  to  this  Covenant  and  also 

65 


66 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


such  of  those  other  states  named  in  the  annex 
as  shall  accede  without  reservation  to  this  Cove- 
nant. Such  accessions  shall  be  effected  by  a 
declaration  deposited  with  the  Secretariat  within 
two  months  of  the  coming  into  force  of  the  Cove- 
nant. Notice  thereof  shall  be  sent  to  all  other 
members  of  the  League. 

2.  Any  fully  self-governing  state,  dominion  or 
colony  not  named  in  the  annex  may  become  a 
member  of  the  League  if  its  admission  is  agreed 
to  by  tW'O-thirds  of  the  Assembly,  provided  that 
it  shall  give  efFective  guaranties  of  its  sincere  in- 
tention to  observe  its  international  obligations, 
and  shall  accept  such  regulations  as  may  be 
prescribed  by  the  League  in  regard  to  its  military 
and  naval  forces  and  armaments. 

3.  Any  member  of  the  League  may,  after  two 
years’  notice  of  its  intention  so  to  do,  withdraw 
from  the  League,  provided  that  all  its  inter- 
national obligations  and  all  its  obligations  under 
this  Covenant  shall  have  been  fulfilled  at  the 
time  of  its  withdrawal. 


Article  II 

EXECUTIVE  ORGANS 

I.  The  action  of  the  League  under  this  Covr 
nant  shall  be  effected  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  an  Assembly  and  of  a Council,  with  a 
Permanent  Secretariat. 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT  67 

Article  III 

ASSEMBLY 

1.  The  Assembly  shall  consist  of  representa- 
tives of  the  members  of  the  League. 

2.  The  Assembly  shall  meet  at  stated  intervals 
and  from  time  to  time  as  occasion  may  require, 
at  the  seat  of  the  League,  or  at  such  other  place 
as  may  be  decided  upon. 

3.  The  Assembly  may  deal  at  its  meetings 
with  any  matter  within  the  sphere  of  action  of  the 
League  or  affecting  the  peace  of  the  world. 

4.  At  meetings  of  the  Assembly  each  member 
of  the  League  shall  ha.ve  one  vote,  and  may  not 
have  more  than  three  representatives. 

Article  IV 

COUNCIL 

1.  The  Council  shall  consist  of  representa- 
tives of  the  principal  allied  and  associated  pow- 
ers, together  with  representatives  of  four  other 
members  of  the  League.  These  four  members 
of  the  League  shall  be  selected  by  the  Assembly 
from  time  to  time  in  its  discretion.  Until  the 
appointment  of  the  representatives  of  the  four 
members  of  the  League  first  selected  by  the  As- 
sembly, representatives  of  Belgium,  Brazil, 
Greece  and  Spain  shall  be  members  of  the  Coun- 
cil. 

2.  With  the  approval  of  the  majority  of  the 


68 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


Assembly,  the  Council  may  name  additional  mem- 
bers of  the  League  whose  representatives  shall 
always  be  members  of  the  Council ; the  Council 
with  like  approval  may  increase  the  number  of 
members  of  the  League  to  be  selected  by  the  As- 
sembly for  representation  on  the  Council. 

3.  The  Council  shall  meet  from  time  to  time 
as  occasion  may  require,  and  at  least  once  a 
year,  at  the  seat  of  the  League,  or  at  such  other 
place  as  may  be  decided  upon. 

4.  The  Council  may  deal  at  its  meetings  with 
any  matter  within  the  sphere  of  action  of  the 
League  or  afEecting  the  peace  of  the  world. 

5.  Any  member  of  the  League  not  repre- 
sented on  the  Council  shall  be  invited  to  send 
a representative  to  sit  as  a member  at  any  meet- 
ing of  the  Council  during  the  consideration  of 
matters  specially  affecting  the  interests  of  that 
member  of  the  League. 

6.  At  meetings  of  the  Council  each  member 
of  the  League  represented  on  the  Council  shall 
have  one  vote,  and  may  have  not  more  than  one 
representative. 


Article  V 

VOTING  AND  PROCEDURE 

I.  Except  where  otherwise  expressly  provided 
in  this  Covenant,  or  by  the  terms  of  the  present 
treaty,  decision  at  any  meeting  of  the  Assembly 
or  of  the  Council  shall  require  the  agreement  of 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT  69 

all  the  members  of  the  League  represented  at  the 
meeting. 

2.  All  matters  of  procedure  at  meetings  of 
the  Assembly  or  the  Council,  including  the  ap- 
pointment of  committees  to  investigate  particular 
matters,  shall  be  regulated  by  the  Assembly  or 
by  the  Council  and  may  be  decided  by  a majority 
of  the  members  of  the  League  represented  at  the 
meeting. 

3.  The  first  meeting  of  the  Assembly  and  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Council  shall  be  summoned 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Article  VI 

SECRETARIAT 

1.  The  permanent  Secretariat  shall  be  estab- 
lished at  the  seat  of  the  League.  The  Secre- 
tariat shall  comprise  a Secretary-General  and 
such  secretaries  and  staff  as  may  be  required. 

2.  The  first  Secretary-General  shall  be  the 
person  named  in  the  annex;  thereafter  the  Sec- 
retary-General shall  be  appointed  by  the  Council 
with  the  approval  of  the  majority  of  the  As- 
sembly. 

3.  The  secretaries  and  the  staff  of  the  Sec- 
retariat shall  be  appointed  by  the  Secretary-Gen- 
eral with  the  approval  of  the  Council. 

4.  The  Secretary-General  shall  act  in  that 
capacity  at  all  meetings  of  the  Assembly  and  of 
the  Council. 


70 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


5.  The  expenses  of  the  Secretariat  shall  be 
borne  by  the  members  of  the  League  in  accord- 
ance with  the  apportionment  of  the  expenses  of 
the  International  Bureau  of  the  Universal  Postal 
Union. 


Article  VII 

SEAT,  QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  OFFICIALS, 
IMMUNITIES 

1.  The  seat  of  the  League  is  established  at 
Geneva. 

2.  The  Council  may  at  any  time  decide  that 
the  seat  of  the  League  shall  be  established  else- 
where. 

3.  All  positions  under  or  connecting  with  the 
League,  including  the  Secretariat,  shall  be  open 
equally  to  men  and  women. 

4.  Representatives  of  the  members  of  the 
League  and  officials  of  the  League  when  engaged 
on  the  business  of  the  League  shall  enjoy  diplo- 
matic privileges  and  immunities. 

5.  The  buildings  and  other  property  occupied 
by  the  League  or  its  officials  or  by  representa- 
tives attending  its  meetings  shall  be  inviolable. 

Article  VIII 

REDUCTION  OF  ARMAMENTS 

I.  The  members  of  the  League  recognize  that 
the  maintenance  of  peace  requires  the  reduction 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


71 


of  national  armaments  to  the  lowest  point  con- 
sistent with  national  safety  and  the  enforcement 
by  common  action  of  international  obligations. 

2.  The  Council,  taking  account  of  the  geo- 
graphical situation  and  circumstances  of  each 
state,  shall  formulate  plans  for  such  reductions 
for  the  consideration  and  action  of  the  several 
Governments. 

3.  Such  plans  shall  be  subject  to  reconsidera- 
; tion  and  revision  at  least  every  10  years. 

4.  After  these  plans  shall  have  been  adopted 
by  the  several  Governments,  limits  or  armaments 

! therein  fixed  shall  not  be  exceeded  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  Council. 

• 5.  The  members  of  the  League  agree  that  the 

manufacture  by  private  enterprise  of  munitions 
and  implements  of  war  is  open  to  grave  objec- 
tions. The  Council  shall  advise  how  the  evil 
j:  effects  attendant  upon  such  manufacture  can  be 

;i  prevented,  due  regard  being  had  to  the  neces- 

i sities  of  those  members  of  the  League  which  are 

ij  not  able  to  manufacture  the  munitions  and  im- 
J plements  of  war  necessary  for  their  safety. 

6.  The  members  of  the  League  undertake  to 
interchange  full  and  frank  information  as  to 
; the  scale  of  their  armaments,  their  military  and 
naval  programs,  and  the  condition  of  such  of 
i their  industries  as  are  adaptable  to  warlike  pur- 
I poses. 


72  WHY  WE  FOUGHT 

Article  IX 

PERMANENT  MILITARY  COMMISSION 

' I.  A permanent  commission  shall  be  consti- 
tuted to  advise  the  Council  on  the  execution  of 
the  provisions  of  Articles  I and  VIII  and  on 
military  and  naval  questions  generally. 

Article  X 

GUARANTIES  AGAINST  AGGRESSION 

I.  The  members  of  the  League  undertake  to 
respect  and  preserve  as  against  external  aggres- 
sion the  territorial  integrity  and  existing  political 
independence  of  all  members  of  the  League.  In 
case  of  any  such  aggression  or  in  case  of  any 
threat  or  danger  of  such  aggression,  the  Council 
shall  advise  upon  the  means  by  which  this  obli- 
gation shall  be  fulfilled. 

Article  XI 

ACTION  IN  CASE  OF  WAR  OR  THREAT  OF  WAR 

I.  Any  war  or  threat  of  war,  whether  im- 
mediately affecting  any  of  the  members  of  the 
League  or  not,  is  hereby  declared  a matter  of 
concern  to  the  whole  League,  and  the  League 
shall  take  any  action  that  may  be  deemed  wise 
and  effectual  to  safeguard  the  peace  of  nations. 
In  case  any  such  emergency  should  arise,  the 
Secretary-General  shall,  on  the  request  of  any 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


73 

member  of  the  League,  forthwith  summon  a 
meeting  of  the  Council. 

2.  It  is  also  declared  to  be  the  fundamental 
right  of  each  member  of  the  League  to  bring  to 
the  attention  of  the  Assembly  or  of  the  Council 
any  circumstance  whatever  attecting  international 
relations  which  threatens  to  disturb  international 
peace  or  the  good  understanding  between  nations 
upon  which  peace  depends. 

Article  XII 

DISPUTES  TO  BE  SUBMITTED  TO  ARBITRA- 
TION OR  INQUIRY 

1.  The  members  of  the  League  agree  that,  if 
there  should  arise  betw^een  them  any  dispute 
likely  to  lead  to  a rupture,  they  will  submit  the 
matter  either  to  arbitration  or  to  inquiry  by  the 
Council,  and  they  agree  in  no  case  to  resort  to 
war  until  three  months  after  the  award  by  the 
arbitrators  or  the  report  by  the  Council. 

2.  In  any  case  under  this  article  the  award  of 
the  arbitrators  shall  be  made  within  a reasonable 
time,  and  the  report  of  the  Council  shall  be 
made  within  six  months  after  the  submission  of 
the  dispute. 

Article  XIII 

ARBITRATION  OF  DISPUTES 

I.  The  members  of  the  League  agree  that, 
whenever  any  dispute  shall  exist  between  them 


74 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


which  they  recognize  to  be  suitable  for  submission 
to  arbitration  and  which  cannot  be  satisfactorily 
settled  by  diplomacy,  they  will  submit  the  whole 
subject  matter  to  arbitration. 

2.  Disputes  as  to  the  interpretation  of  a 
treaty,  as  to  any  question  of  international  law, 
as  to  the  existence  of  any  fact  which  if  estab- 
lished would  constitute  a breach  of  any  inter- 
national obligation,  or  as  to  the  extent  and  na- 
ture of  the  reparation  to  be  made  for  any  such 
breach,  are  declared  to  be  among  those  which 
are  generally  suitable  for  submission  to  arbitra- 
tion. 

3.  For  the  consideration  of  any  such  dispute 
the  court  of  arbitration  to  which  the  case  is  re- 
ferred shall  be  the  court  agreed  upon  by  the 
parties  to  the  dispute  or  stipulated  in  any  con- 
vention existing  between  them. 

4.  The  members  of  the  League  agree  that  they 
will  carry  out  in  full  good  faith  any  award  that 
may  be  rendered  and  that  they  will  not  resort 
to  war  against  a member  of  the  League  which 
complies  therewith.  In  the  event  of  any  failure 
to  carry  out  such  an  award,  the  Council  shall 
propose  what  steps  should  be  taken  to  give  ef- 
fect thereto. 


75 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 

Article  XIV 

COURT  OF  INTERNATIONAL  JUSTICE 

I.  The  Council  shall  formulate  and  submit 
to  the  members  of  the  League  for  adoption  plans 
for  the  establishment  of  a permanent  Court  of 
International  Justice.  The  court  shall  be  com- 
petent to  hear  and  determine  any  dispute  of  an 
international  character  which  the  parties  thereto 
submit  to  it.  The  court  may  also  give  an  ad- 
visory opinion  upon  any  dispute  or  question  re- 
ferred to  it  by  the  Council  or  by  the  Assembly. 

Article  XV 

DISPUTES  NOT  SUBMITTED  TO  ARBITRATION 

I.  If  there  should  arise  between  members  of 
the  League  any  dispute  likely  to  lead  to  a rup- 
ture, which  is  not  submitted  to  arbitration  in 
accordance  with  Article  XIII,  the  members  of 
the  League  agree  that  they  will  submit  the  matter 
to  the  Council.  Any  party  to  the  dispute  may 
effect  such  submission  by  giving  notice  of  the 
existence  of  the  dispute  to  the  Secretary-General, 
who  will  make  all  necessary  arrangements  for  a 
full  investigation  and  consideration  thereof.  For 
this  purpose  the  parties  to  the  dispute  will  com- 
municate to  the  Secretary-General,  as  promptly 
as  possible,  statements  of  their  case,  with  all  the 
relevant  facts  and  papers ; the  Council  may  forth- 
with direct  the  publication  thereof. 


76 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


2.  The  Council  shall  endeavor  to  eflFect  a settle- 
ment of  the  dispute  and,  if  such  efforts  are  suc- 
cessful, a statement  shall  be  made  public  giving 
such  facts  and  explanations  regarding  the  dis- 
pute and  terms  of  settlement  thereof  as  the  Coun- 
cil may  deem  appropriate. 

3.  If  the  dispute  is  not  thus  settled,  the  Coun- 
cil either  unanimously  or  by  a majority  vote 
shall  make  and  publish  a report  containing  a 
statement  of  the  facts  of  the  dispute  and  the 
recommendations  which  are  deemed  just  and 
proper  in  regard  thereto. 

4.  Any  member  of  the  League  represented  on 
the  Council  may  make  public  a statement  of  the 
facts  of  the  dispute  and  of  its  conclusions  re- 
garding the  same. 

5.  If  a report  by  the  Council  is  unanimously 
agreed  to  by  the  members  thereof  other  than  the 
representatives  of  one  or  more  of  the  parties  to 
the  dispute,  the  members  of  the  League  agree 
that  they  will  not  go  to  war  with  any  party  to 
the  dispute  which  complies  with  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  report. 

6.  If  the  Council  fails  to  reach  a report  which 
is  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  members  thereof, 
other  than  the  representatives  of  one  or  more 
of  the  parties  to  the  dispute,  the  members  of 
the  League  reserve  to  themselves  the  right  to 
take  such  action  as  they  shall  consider  necessary 
for  the  maintenace  of  right  and  justice. 

7.  If  the  dispute  between  the  parties  is  claimed 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


77 


by  one  of  them,  and  is  found  by  ‘the  Council  to 
arise  out  of  a matter  which  by  international  law 
is  solely  within  the  domestic  jurisdiction  of  that 
party,  the  Council  shall  so  report  and  shall  make 
no  recommendation  as  to  its  settlement. 

8.  The  Council  may  in  any  case  under  this 
article  refer  the  dispute  to  the  Assembly.  The 
dispute  shall  be  so  referred  at  the  request  of 
either  party  to  the  dispute,  provided  that  such  re- 
quest is  made  within  14  days  after  the  submis- 
sion of  the  dispute  to  the  Council. 

9.  In  any  case  referred  to  the  Assembly,  all 
the  provisions  of  this  article  and  of  Article  XII 
relating  to  the  action  and  powers  of  the  Council 
shall  apply  to  the  action  and  powers  of  the  As- 
sembly, provided  that  a report  made  by  the  As- 
sembly, if  concurred  in  by  the  representatives 
of  those  members  of  the  League  represented  on 
the  Council  and  of  a majority  of  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  League,  exclusive  in  each  case  of  the 
representatives  of  the  parties  to  the  dispute,  shall 
have  the  same  force  as  a report  by  the  Council 
concurred  in  by  all  the  members  thereof  other 
than  the  representatives  of  one  or  more  of  the 
parties  to  the  dispute. 

Article  XVI 

SANCTIONS 

I.  Should  any  member  of  the  League  resort 
to  war  in  disregard  of  its  covenants  under  Ar- 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


78 

tides  XII,  XIII  and  XV,  it  shall  ipso  facto  be 
deemed  to  have  committed  an  act  of  war  against 
all  other  members  of  the  Leag’je,  which  hereby 
undertake  immediately  to  subject  it  to  the  sever- 
ance of  all  trade  or  financial  relations,  the  pro- 
hibition of  all  intercourse  between  their  nationals 
and  the  nationals  of  the  covenant-breaking  state 
and  the  prevention  of  all  financial,  commercial 
or  personal  intercourse  between  the  nationals  of 
the  covenant-breaking  state  and  the  nationals  of 
any  other  state,  whether  a member  of  the  League 
or  not. 

2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Council  in  such 
case  to  recommend  to  the  several  Governments 
concerned  what  effective  military  or  naval  force 
the  members  of  the  League  shall  severally  con- 
tribute to  the  armed  forces  to  be  used  to  protect 
the  covenants  of  the  League. 

3.  The  members  of  the  League  agree,  further, 
that  they  will  mutually  support  one  another  in 
the  financial  and  economic  measures  which  arc 
taken  under  this  article,  in  order  to  minimize  the 
loss  and  inconvenience  resulting  from  the  above 
measures,  and  that  they  will  mutually  support 
one  another  in  resisting  any  special  measures 
aimed  at  one  of  their  number  by  the  covenant- 
breaking state  of  the  League,  and  that  they  will 
take  the  necessary  steps  to  afford  passage  through 
their  territory  to  the  forces  of  any  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  League  which  are  cooperating  to  pro- 
tect the  covenants  of  the  League. 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


79 


4.  Any  member  of  the  League  which  has  vio- 
lated any  covenant  of  the  League  may  be  de- 
clared to  be  no  longer  a member  of  the  League 
by  a vote  of  the  Council  concurred  in  by  the 
representatives  of  all  the  members  of  the  League 
represented  thereon. 

Article  XVII 

DISPUTES  WITH  NON-MEMBERS 

1.  In  the  event  of  a dispute  between  a member 
of  the  League  and  a state  which  is  not  a mem- 
ber of  the  League,  or  between  states  not  mem- 
bers of  the  League,  the  state  or  states  not  mem- 
bers of  the  League  shall  be  invited  to  accept 
the  obligations  and  membership  in  the  League 
for  the  purposes  of  such  dispute  upon  such  con- 
ditions as  the  Council  may  deem  just.  If  such 
invitation  is  accepted,  the  provisions  of  Articles 
XII  to  XVI  inclusive  shall  be  applied,  with  such 
modifications  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  by  the 
Council. 

2.  Upon  such  invitation  being  given,  the  Coun- 
cil shall  immediately  institute  an  inquiry  into 
the  circumstances  of  the  dispute  and  recommend 
such  action  as  may  seem  best  and  most  effectual 
in  the  circumstances. 

5.  If  a state  so  invited  shall  refuse  to  accept 
the  obligations  of  membership  in  the  League  for 
the  purposes  of  such  dispute,  and  shall  resort 
to  war  against  a member  of  the  League,  the  pro' 


8o 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


visions  of  Article  XVI  shall  be  applicable  as 
against  the  state  taking  such  action. 

4.  If  both  parties  to  the  dispute,  when  so  in- 
vited, refuse  to  accept  the  obligations  of  member- 
ship in  the  League  for  the  purposes  of  such  dis- 
pute, the  Council  may  take  such  measures  and 
make  such  recommendations  as  will  prevent  hos- 
tilities and  will  result  in  the  settlement  of  the 
dispute. 


Article  XVIII 

REGISTRATION  AND  PUBLICATION  OF 
TREATIES 

I.  Every  treaty  or  international  engagement 
entered  into  hereafter  by  any  member  of  the 
League  shall  be  forthwith  registered  with  the 
Secretariat  and  shall  as  soon  as  possible  be  pub- 
lished by  it.  No  such  treaty  or  international  en- 
gagement shall  be  binding  until  so  registered. 

Article  XIX 

REVIEW  OF  TREATIES 

1.  The  Assembly  may  from  time  to  time  ad- 
vise the  reconsideration  by  members  of  the 
League  of  treaties  which  have  become  inapplic- 
able, and  the  consideration  of  international  con- 
ditions whose  continuance  might  endanger  the 
peace  of  the  world. 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT  8i 

Article  XX 

ABROGATION  OF  INCONSISTENT  OBUGATIONS 

1.  The  members  of  the  League  severally  agree 
that  this  Covenant  is  accepted  as  abrogating  all 
obligations  or  understandings  inter  se  which  are 
inconsistent  with  the  terms  thereof,  and  solemnly 
undertake  that  they  will  not  hereafter  enter  into 
any  engagements  inconsistent  with  the  terms 
thereof. 

2.  In  case  any  member  of  the  League  shall, 
before  becoming  a member  of  the  League,  have 
undertaken  any  obligations  inconsistent  with 
terms  of  this  Covenant,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
such  member  to  take  immediate  steps  to  procure 
its  release  from  such  obligations. 

Article  XXI 

ENGAGEMENTS  THAT  REMAIN  VALID 

1.  Nothing  in  this  Covenant  shall  be  deemed 
to  affect  the  validity  of  international  engage- 
ments, such  as  treaties  of  arbitration  or  regional 
understandings  like  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  for 
securing  the  maintenance  of  peace. 

Article  XXII 

control  of  colonies  and  territories 

i.  To  those  colonics  and  territories  which  as  a 
consequence  of  the  late  war  have  ceased  to  be 


82 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


under  the  sovereignty  of  the  states  which  for- 
merly governed  them  and  which  are  inhabited  by 
peoples  not  yet  able  to  stand  by  themselves  under 
the  strenuous  conditions  of  the  modern  world, 
there  should  be  applied  the  principle  that  the  well 
being  and  development  of  such  peoples  form  a 
sacred  trust  of  civilization  and  that  securities  for 
the  performance  of  this  trust  should  be  embodied 
in  this  Covenant. 

2.  The  best  method  of  giving  practicable  ef- 
fect to  this  principle  is  that  the  tutelage  of 
such  people  be  intrusted  to  advanced  nations  who, 
by  reason  of  their  resources,  their  experience  or 
their  geographical  position,  can  best  undertake 
this  responsibility  and  who  are  willing  to  ac- 
cept it,  and  that  this  tutelage  should  be  exercised 
by  them  as  mandataries  on  behalf  of  the  League. 

3.  The  character  of  the  mandate  must  differ 
according  to  the  stage  of  the  development  of  the 
people,  the  geographical  situation  of  the  terri- 
tory, its  economic  conditions  and  other  similar 
circumstances. 

4.  Certain  communities  formerly  belonging  to 
the  Turkish  Empire  have  reached  a stage  of  de- 
velopment where  their  existence  as  independent 
nations  can  be  provisionally  recognized  subject 
to  the  rendering  of  administrative  advice  and  as- 
sistance by  a mandatary  until  such  time  as  they 
are  able  to  stand  alone.  The  wishes  of  these 
communities  must  be  a principal  consideration  in 
the  selection  of  the  mandatary. 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


83 


5.  Other  peoples,  especially  those  of  Central 
Africa,  are  at  such  a stage  that  the  mandatary 
must  be  responsible  for  the  administration  of  the 
territory  under  conditions  which  will  guarantee 
freedom  of  conscience  and  religion,  subject  only 
to  the  maintenance  of  public  order  and  morals, 
the  prohibition  of  abuses  such  as  the  slave  trade, 
the  arms  traffic  and  the  liquor  traffic,  and  the 
prevention  of  the  establishment  of  fortifications  or 
military  and  naval  bases  and  of  military  training 
of  the  natives  for  other  than  police  purposes  and 
the  defense  of  territory,  and  will  also  secure 
equal  opportunities  for  the  trade  and  commerce 
of  other  members  of  the  League. 

6.  There  are  territories,  such  as  Southwest 
Africa  and  certain  of  the  South  Pacific  islands, 
which,  owing  to  the  sparseness  of  their  popula- 
tion or  their  small  size,  or  their  remoteness  from 
the  centers  of  civilization,  or  their  geographical 
contiguity  to  the  territory  of  the  mandatary,  and 
other  circumstances,  can  be  best  administered 
under  the  laws  of  the  mandatary  as  integral  por- 
tions of  its  territory,  subject  to  the  safeguards 
above  mentioned  in  the  interests  of  the  indi- 
genous population. 

7.  In  every  case  of  mandate  the  tnandatary 
shall  render  the  Council  an  annual  report  in  refer- 
ence to  the  territory  committed  to  his  charge. 

8.  The  degree  of  authority,  control  or  admin- 
istration to  be  exercised  by  the  mandatary  shall. 


84 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


if  not  previously  agreed  upon  by  the  members 
of  the  League,  be  explicitly  defined  in  each  case 
by  the  Council. 

9.  A permanent  commission  shall  be  consti- 
tuted to  receive  and  examine  the  annual  reports 
of  the  mandataries,  and  to  advise  the  Council 
on  all  matters  relating  to  the  observance  of  the 
mandates. 

Article  XXIII 

SOCIAL  ACTIVITIES 

I.  Subject  to  and  in  accordance  with  the  pro- 
visions of  international  conventions  existing  or 
hereafter  to  be  agreed  upon,  the  members  of  the 
League : 

(a)  will  endeavor  to  secure  and  maintain  fair 
and  humane  conditions  of  labor  for  men,  women 
and  children,  both  in  their  own  countries  and  in 
all  countries  to  which  their  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial relations  extend,  and  for  that  purpose 
will  establish  and  maintain  the  necessary  inter- 
national organizations ; 

(b)  undertake  to  secure  just  treatment  of  the 
native  inhabitants  of  territories  under  their  con- 
trol ; 

(c)  will  intrust  the  League  with  the  general 
supervision  over  the  execution  of  agreements  with 
regard  to  the  traffic  in  women  and  children  and 
the  traffic  in  opium  and  other  dangerous  drugs; 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT  85 

(d)  will  intrust  the  League  with  the  general 
supervision  of  the  trade  in  arms  and  ammunition 
with  the  countries  in  which  the  control  of  this 
traffic  is  necessary  in  the  common  interest ; 

(e)  will  make  provision  to  secure  and  maintain 
freedom  of  communication  and  of  transit  and 
equitable  treatment  for  the  commerce  of  all  mem- 
bers of  the  League.  In  this  connection  the  spe- 
cial necessities  of  the  regions  devastated  during  the 
war  of  1914-1918  shall  be  in  mind; 

(f)  will  endeavor  to  take  steps  in  matters  of 
international  concern  for  the  prevention  and  con- 
trol of  disease. 


Article  XXIV 

INTERNATIONAL  BUREAUS 

1.  There  shall  be  placed  under  the  direction  of 
the  League  all  International  Bureaus  already  es- 
tablished by  general  treaties,  if  the  parties  to  such 
treaties  consent.  All  such  International  Bureaus 
and  all  Commissions  for  the  regulation  of  matters 
of  international  interest  hereafter  constituted  shall 
be  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  League. 

2.  In  all  matters  of  international  interest  which 
are  regulated  by  general  conventions  but  which 
are  not  placed  under  the  control  of  international 
bureaus  or  commissions,  the  Secretariat  of  the 
League  shall,  subject  to  the  consent  of  the  Coun- 
cil and  if  desired  by  the  parties,  collect  and  dis- 


86 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


tribute  all  relevant  information  and  shall  render 
any  other  assistance  which  may  be  necessary  or 
desirable. 

3.  The  Council  may  include  as  part  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Secretariat  the  expenses  of  any 
Bureau  or  Commission  which  is  placed  under  the 
direction  of  the  League. 

Article  XXV 

PROMOTION  OF  RED  CROSS 

I.  The  members  of  the  League  agree  to  en- 
courage and  promote  the  establishment  and  co- 
operation of  duly  authorized  voluntary  national 
Red  Cross  organizations  having  as  purposes  im- 
provement of  health,  the  prevention  of  disease  and 
the  mitigation  of  suffering  throughout  the  world. 

Article  XXVI 

AMENDMENT 

1.  Amendments  to  this  Covenant  will  take  ef- 
fect when  ratified  by  the  members  of  the  League 
whose  representatives  compose  the  Council  and  by 
a majority  of  the  members  of  the  League  whose 
representatives  compose  the  Assembly. 

2.  No  such  amendment  shall  bind  any  member 
of  the  League  which  signifies  its  dissent  therefrom, 
but  in  that  case  it  shall  cease  to  be  a member  of 
the  League. 


ANNEX 


1.  Original  members  of  the  League  of  Nations, 
signatories  of  the  treaty  of  peace : 


United  States  of  America 

Belgium 

Bolivia 

Brazil 

British  Empire 
Canada 
Australia 
South  Africa 
New  Zealand 
India 
China 
Cuba 

Czecho-Slovakia 
Ecuador 
F ranee 
Greece 
Guatemala 


Haiti 

Hedjaz 

Honduras 

Italy 

Japan 

Liberia 

Nicaragua* 

Panama 

Peru 

Poland 

Portugal 

Rumania 

Serb-Croat  and  Slo- 
vene State 
Siam 
Uruguay 


States  invited  to  accede  to  the  Covenant: 

Argentine  Republic  Denmark 

Chile  Netherlands 

Colombia  Norway 


87 


88 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


Paraguay 

Persia 

Salvador 

Spain 


Sweden 

Switzerland 

Venezuela 


II.  First  Secretary-General  of  the  League  of 
Nations:  Sir  James  Eric  Drummond. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  WORLD 
ORGANIZATION 


Published  in  the  Daily  Californian, 
January  27,  1919 

These  are  great  days  in  which  to  be  alive. 
Better  than  some  others  we  have  known. 

The  first  steps  have  been  taken  toward  a real- 
ization of  the  great  principles  which  have  bound 
millions  of  Allied  soldiers  together  in  a deter- 
mined struggle.  But  these  principles  still  remain 
as  a challenge  to  those  who  have  it  within  their 
power  to  translate  ideals  into  action,  still  remain 
as  principles  merely,  as  yet  unrealized. 

With  the  disbanding  of  the  armed  millions  we 
are  conscious  of  another  and  far  greater  army,  the 
great  army  of  public  opinion  which  is  destined  to 
rule  the  world.  In  that  army  the  universities  are 
the  generals  and  we  as  students  at  the  university 
are  responsible  for  our  generalship. 

Our  position  is  peculiar  for  several  reasons.  In 
the  first  place,  opinions,  political  institutions,  na- 
tions and  races  are  in  a state  of  flux.  Govern- 
ments which  have  ruled  for  years  are  being  shat- 
tered and  wrecked.  Subject  peoples  find  now 
89 


90 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


their  first  opportunity  to  assert  themselves.  Po- 
litical organisms  the  ^vorld  over  are  changing  with 
a rapidity  heretofore  unknown.  The  England  of 
to-day  is  not  the  England  of  1913,  and  this  is  true 
also  of  France,  Italy  and,  to  a smaller  extent,  the 
United  States. 

Because  the  flood  of  political  opinion  is  rolling 
high  we  have  a good  opportunity  to  accomplish  a 
much  needed  international  political  organization. 
Internationally  we  are  in  a state  of  anarchy. 
The  very  term  international  law  is  a delusion  and 
a snare.  It  is  a rank  misnomer.  Law  is  a rule 
of  action  supported  by  a sanction,  and  there  can 
be  no  law  without  such  sanction.  An  interna- 
tional organization  that  could  give  us  interna- 
tional law  is  as  yet  unborn. 

In  the  second  place,  the  position  of  the  United 
States  at  the  peace  table  is  one  of  peculiar  power. 

We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve,”  and  for  that 
very  reason,  while  others  will  be  forced  to  make 
concessions  to  gain  the  territorial  and  other  ma- 
terial advantages  which  they  seek,  we  can  stand 
firmly  for  the  accomplishment  of  our  high  pur- 
pose. 

Lastly,  the  position  and  responsibility  of  one  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  a university  student  at  this 
critical  period  in  the  world’s  history  is  peculiar. 
We  have  every  facility  for  an  advance  with  the 
first  wave.  The  zero  hour  is  at  hand.  We  have 
the  library.  We  have  the  daily  papers.  We 
must  read  what  Wilson,  Lloyd  George,  Clemen- 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


91 


ceau,  Orlando  and  Vcnizelos  arc  saying.  These 
men  speak  with  the  consciousness  that  they  repre- 
sent millions  and  that  they  hold  the  destinies  of 
people  in  the  palms  of  their  hands.  We  can’t 
afford  to  miss  what  Professor  Henry  Morse 
Stephens  is  saying  in  the  “ War  Issues  ” course. 
We  may  find  courses  in  the  Political  Science  de- 
partment where  a leisure  hour  can  be  spent  quite 
as  profitably  as  before  the  fraternal  hearth.  This 
is  not  the  place  to  drift  with  the  current  of  opin- 
ion: it  is  the  place  from  which  the  course  of 
those  currents  should  be  directed. 

There  is  no  problem  so  important  as  that  of 
political  organization  for  the  world.  War  repre- 
sents a relapse  of  civilization  to  a state  of  barbar- 
ism and  never  can  we  reach  that  higher  civiliza- 
tion with  the  necessary  concomitants  of  better 
social  and  industrial  conditions  until  we  devise 
the  machinery  for  the  prevention  of  these  periodic 
relapses. 

We  may  be  pardoned  for  believing  that  a per- 
fected international  government  is  a considerable 
distance  in  the  future,  but  we  can  not  be  par- 
doned for  being  without  thought  on  a problem  so 
important.  This  for  consideration : — peace  fol- 
lows justice;  justice  follows  law;  law  follows 
political  organization. 

Signed, 

Thomas  G.  Chamberlain. 


LETTER  FROM  A WOUNDED 
SOLDIER 


To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

To  those  who  oppose  the  proposed  League  of 
Nations,  either  because  they  are  not  in  favor  of 
the  policies  of  our  President  (which  would  be 
very  narrow  minded  of  them),  or  because  of  some 
other  reason,  and  who  were  unable  to  be  in  a 
battle,  I address  the  following: 

You  who  have  never  seen  the  horrors  of  war, 
who  have  never  seen  a man  disappear,  literally 
blown  to  atoms,  on  being  struck  by  a shell;  who 
have  never  heard  the  shrieks  of  wounded  human 
beings,  who  have  never  heard  the  hysterical  laugh- 
ter of  a man  as  he  gazes  at  the  stump  where  his 
hand  was  a moment  ago,  who  have  never  heard 
the  cries,  the  groans,  the  swearing,  the  praying  of 
men  with  festering  wounds,  lying  in  a first  aid 
station,  waiting  too  long  and  in  vain  for  ambu- 
lances.; who  have  never  witnessed  the  terror  of 
those  men  when  the  station  is  gassed  and  there 
are  no  gas  masks,  who  have  never  seen  convales- 
cents, totally  blind  and  with  both  hands  ampu- 
tated above  the  wrists — can  you  say  that  we 
should  stop  at  anything  in  order  to  prevent  this 
92 


WHY  WE  FOUGHT 


93 


frightfulncss,  this  savagery,  this  horror  from  oc- 
curring again  ? Is  there  any  other  way  than  by  a 
League  of  Nations  and  combination  of  power? 
Will  a simple  treaty  among  the  greater  nations 
prevent  a recurrence  of  such  an  attempt  as  Ger- 
many has  made?  Is  not  the  League  of  Nations, 
as  proposed,  elastic  enough  and  broad  enough, 
whatever  its  defects,  to  insure  w-orld  peace?  Is 
it  not  a step,  and  the  only  possible  step,  in  the 
right  direction?  I firmly  believe  so.  If  there  is 
another  way,  speak  it  out.  If  not,  for  God’s 
sake,  stop  opposing  this  one  remedy. 

Wyman  Richardson, 
(Wounded  in  action.) 

Boston,  March  i8,  1919. 


FEINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


J. 


DATE  DUE 

' 

^EMCO  38-297 

